Grand Theft Auto V drives tidy year-end profits for Take-Two

Take-Two closed the book on its 2015 fiscal year this week with a strong fourth-quarter showing thanks to big revenue generators like the PC version of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V and 2K's multi-platform shooter Evolve.

The company reported better-than-expected profits of $54.3 million atop revenue of $427.7 million in its fourth quarter, a significant improvement over the $21.5 million profit it reaped from $233.2 million in revenue during the same period last year.

Those numbers helped the company report a take-home profit of $219.2 million from the $1.67 billion in revenue during the full 2015 fiscal year. That's better than the $1.45 billion it predicted it would earn this year, though it's still a significant decrease from the $2.41 billion in revenue it brought in during the prior fiscal year, which included the initial debut of Grand Theft Auto V.

This time around Take-Two once again credited Grand Theft Auto V as its premier revenue driver for the final quarter of the year, though it also reported strong sales of 2K titles like NBA 2K15 and Evolve.

It's interesting to note that GTA V and Evolve are both replete with microtransaction opportunities; Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick recently told Re/code that half of the company's digital sales for the year (which account for 37 percent of that total sales figure above, or roughly $618 million) came from "'recurrent' spending" on things like Grand Theft Auto V's in-game currency.