Glossary·Written by a CPA
Net bookings
Also called: Bookings
The money customers actually spent with a video game company in a period, before accounting spreads some of it into later quarters as revenue.
Net bookings is the number video game companies like Take-Two lead with, and it basically just means the money customers actually spent on the company's games and in-game purchases during the period.
It's different from revenue because of how accounting treats games you keep playing online. Part of what you paid gets recognized as revenue over the following months instead of all at once, so revenue lags behind what people actually spent.
For you, net bookings is usually the better read on demand in a given quarter, which is why game companies give their guidance, and analysts give their estimates, mostly in bookings.
Example. As an example, in the September 2026 quarter Take-Two reported net bookings of about $1.6 billion, down 18% from a year earlier and about $20 million below the bottom of the range it had given itself.
The catch. Net bookings isn't a GAAP number, so check how the company defines it, and compare it with revenue and operating cash flow over a full year.
Where I talk about it
- Buy Take-Two Stock Before or After GTA 6 Launches? (TTWO) at 0:54
- Take-Two Stock Before GTA 6: Buy Now or Wait? at 1:57
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This is education, not tax or investment advice. I'm a CPA, but I'm not your CPA. Full disclaimer.