Take-Two Takes a Tumble

Updated from 4:36 p.m. EST

Slow sales of video games in the crucial holiday season shot down the fourth quarter for Take-Two Interactive(TTWO Quote), which saw its earnings per share plunge by 70% and sales drop by nearly 30% compared with the same quarter last year.

The company said it will significantly undershoot its targets for the first quarter and the entire fiscal year, as the industry awaits the impact of new game consoles by Sony(SNE Quote) and Nintendo, in addition to Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) recently released Xbox 360.

Take-Two shares slumped $1.50, or 8%, in after-hours trading to $16.97 on Instinet. ...