NBA 2K27 Sales Miss Take-Two's Targets: What the Earnings Call Means for the Game's Future

NBA 2K27 is the subject of real news this week, but it has nothing to do with a patch or a new Season reward track. On November 9, 2026, publisher Take-Two Interactive filed its fiscal second-quarter results with the SEC, and the numbers show NBA 2K27 came in below the company's internal sales forecast. Here is exactly what Take-Two reported, what CEO Strauss Zelnick said about why, and what it actually means for anyone still playing the game.

Short version: NBA 2K27 is not being abandoned. Take-Two still called it one of its biggest contributors to the quarter, Season 2 is live and getting new content, and the company's full-year financial guidance did not move. The miss is about expectations, not collapse.

1. What Take-Two's November 9 Earnings Report Actually Said

Take-Two's fiscal Q2 2027 results cover the three months ending September 30, 2026 — the exact window in which NBA 2K27 launched on September 4. According to the company's official earnings release, filed with the SEC on November 9, Net Bookings for the quarter totaled $1.60 billion, down 18% from $1.96 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. GAAP net revenue was $1.50 billion, compared with $1.77 billion the year before.

The release itself does not single out NBA 2K27 for criticism. It lists NBA 2K among the largest contributors to both Net Bookings and GAAP net revenue for the quarter, and simply restates the facts: NBA 2K27 released September 4, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick's quote in the release focuses forward, not backward: "The launch of Grand Theft Auto VI is ten days away," he said, adding that the company expects to deliver a historic year.

2. How Many Copies Has NBA 2K27 Actually Sold?

The SEC filing doesn't give a unit-sales number — publishers rarely do in a formal earnings release. The widely reported figure comes from a separate source: Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who reported that Zelnick told him NBA 2K27 has sold around 4 million units since its September 4 launch. That number hasn't been confirmed in a Take-Two press release, so treat it as a reported figure from Zelnick's comments to Bloomberg rather than an official statistic.

Context matters here: 4 million units in roughly two months is still a large launch by most standards. The story isn't that NBA 2K27 sold poorly in absolute terms — it's that it landed below whatever internal target Take-Two had set for the title before launch.

3. Why 2K Says Sales Came Up Short

Per Bloomberg's report, Zelnick pointed to timing rather than the game itself. Asked about the shortfall, he offered a blunt explanation that boiled down to competition for the same entertainment dollar in a crowded fall release window — with Grand Theft Auto VI's November 19 launch looming large over the entire season. Zelnick's own phrase, as reported by Bloomberg: "If your lunch is going to be eaten, I'd rather be the one eating it."

That's a reference to the idea that if anything was going to pull players and spending away from NBA 2K27, Take-Two would rather it be its own upcoming blockbuster than a competitor's game. The official earnings release backs up how much weight GTA VI is carrying for the rest of the fiscal year: Take-Two guided fiscal Q3 (October–December) Net Bookings to $3.35–$3.5 billion, explicitly "driven by the groundbreaking release of Grand Theft Auto VI" on November 19.

It's not just NBA 2K27

Bloomberg's reporting also noted that other sports titles released in 2026 have underperformed relative to expectations industry-wide, which is part of why Take-Two framed this as a timing and competitive-calendar issue rather than a problem specific to NBA 2K27's quality or content.

4. What This Means for Season 2 and NBA 2K27's Content Roadmap

The clearest signal that NBA 2K27 isn't being deprioritized is what Take-Two did not do: it did not cut its full-year outlook. The company reiterated fiscal 2027 Net Bookings guidance of $8.0–$8.2 billion, the same range it had set before this quarter's results came in below forecast. A publisher that was genuinely worried about a title's long-term performance typically trims guidance tied to that title — Take-Two didn't.

On the ground, Season 2 has been running since October 16 with new GOAT Builds, Crew content and MyTEAM cards continuing to roll out on schedule, exactly the kind of live-service investment a publisher pulls back on when it's cutting losses rather than managing a soft launch quarter. If you want the mechanical breakdown of what's actually in that season, our guide to Season 2's new GOAT Builds covers the legends-based MyPLAYER builds 2K added this cycle, and our breakdown of MyTEAM's Player XP, Exchange and Auction House systems covers the mode Take-Two specifically called out as a top earner.

5. How This Fits Into Take-Two's Bigger Picture

NBA 2K27's soft quarter is a small piece of a much bigger story at Take-Two right now: Grand Theft Auto VI. Zelnick's entire public framing of this earnings cycle has been about the next ten days, not the last quarter. The company says GTA VI pre-orders are tracking far above its own internal expectations, and its fiscal Q3 guidance effectively bakes in GTA VI as the dominant revenue driver for the December quarter. For the full picture of what Take-Two has said about that launch, our coverage of Take-Two's GTA 6 earnings call commentary breaks down the pre-order and marketing numbers in detail.

In that context, a sports title landing below an internal forecast in the same quarter Take-Two's biggest release in over a decade is ramping up isn't the kind of result that changes a publisher's strategy. It's a rounding error against the scale of what's coming on November 19.

6. What NBA 2K27 Players Should Actually Take Away

If you're currently playing NBA 2K27, none of this earnings news changes anything about your save file, your MyCAREER progress or your MyTEAM collection. The practical takeaways are:

• Season 2 is continuing as planned — new GOAT Builds, Crew content and MyTEAM cards are live, not being wound down.
• The sales figure being discussed (around 4 million units) is Bloomberg-reported, not an official Take-Two statistic — there's no confirmed exact number from the company itself.
• Take-Two did not lower its full-year financial guidance, which is usually the first thing to move if a publisher is genuinely alarmed about a title's performance.
• The company's own explanation is about market timing and GTA VI's looming launch, not about NBA 2K27's quality or content.

The more consequential date for the NBA 2K27 community isn't anything in this earnings report — it's November 19, when GTA VI actually launches and Take-Two's next quarter of attention shifts almost entirely toward it.

Official Resources

• Take-Two Interactive's official fiscal Q2 2027 earnings release (SEC filing)
• NBA 2K27 official site
• NBA 2K27 on Steam

For more on what else is live in the game right now, visit our full walkthroughs and guides archive.