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WASTED

Take-Two soars as “Grand Theft Auto 6” still on track for a fall release

“Grand Theft Auto” products have continued to fill Take-Two’s coffers in the 12 years since the game’s fifth installment.

Max Knoblauch

2/6/25 4:57PM

Those looking for a specific “Grand Theft Auto VI” release update: keep waiting. Take-Two Interactive reiterated that the game is on track to debut this fall, but didn’t provide a more specific date.

The gaming giant, which owns publishers Rockstar Games (GTA and “Red Dead Redemption”), 2K (“Civilization” and “NBA 2K”), and Zynga (mobile games like “Merge Dragons”), reported net bookings of $1.37 billion in its fiscal third quarter.

Its shares rose more than 7% in after-hours trading, likely a collective sigh of relief that the upcoming “Grand Theft Auto” game is still due for this year.

“Looking ahead, this calendar year is shaping up to be one of the strongest ever for Take-Two,” CEO Strauss Zelnick said on the earnings call, noting that the 2K basketball franchise delivered strong net bookings.

The amount of hype around GTA 6, which has a rumored budget of $2 billion, can’t be overstated. The game will likely not only be the biggest of the year, but of the decade. It’s expected to break $1 billion in preorder sales alone, and video game research group DFC Intelligence is predicting $3.2 billion in sales in its first 12 months. For context, that would be roughly double 2024’s biggest box office performer, “Inside Out 2.” Competitors like EA have implied they may delay tentpole titles based on GTA 6’s release date.

The game’s predecessor, GTA 5, set the bar high for Take-Two. The title has sold 210 million copies over its nearly 12-year lifespan, covering three console generations. That’s more units sold than the entire “Final Fantasy” franchise combined. According to Circana, GTA 5 has cracked the top 15 bestselling video games in the US every year since its 2013 release.

Suffice it to say, Take-Two has a lot riding on GTA 6.

The open-world crime simulator franchise isn’t its only revenue driver, though. Take-Two’s $12.7 billion acquisition of mobile gaming juggernaut Zynga in 2022 has proven to be a huge boon to its books. After the merger, mobile revenue quickly came to dominate Take-Two’s income statement when filtered by platform. This quarter, mobile accounted for $731.6 million, 54% of the publisher’s net revenue, while console accounted for 37%.

Mobile games are far cheaper to produce than big-budget console titles, and are often filled with lucrative advertisements and microtransactions. The business is swelling, fueled by bizarre and shady advertising practices, and accounts for about half of the total games market. According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, 11 mobile titles surpassed $1 billion in revenue last year.

Take-Two’s earnings come amid an otherwise lackluster video game earnings week. A gloomy forecast from Roblox sent its shares plunging Thursday, Electronic Arts said its soccer franchise “EA Sports FC 25” underperformed, and Nintendo’s aging Switch console continued to struggle, with a successor on the way.

Claire Yubin Oh

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Tom Jones6h

Max Knoblauch6h

Sony and Honda are scrapping Afeela, their joint EV that you could play PlayStation in

Less than two weeks after Honda said it would take an up to $15.7 billion write-down as it restructures its EV business, the automaker is scrapping an electric vehicle made in a joint venture with Sony.

The Afeela 1, a $90,000 EV with PlayStation 5 integration, was set to begin deliveries later this year.

A nearly six-figure EV that you could play “The Last of Us” in doesn’t exactly sound like a bestseller in the current electric vehicle landscape, but the announcement is still surprising given how far along the joint venture was. The JV had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of its delivery hub in California on March 21. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the JV teased a crossover SUV prototype as a second model.

In Honda’s EV write-down announcement earlier this month, the automaker canceled three models planned for production in the US.

Sony-Honda JV Abruptly Scraps Afeela EVs After Honda's $15.7 Billion Writedown | EV

In Honda’s EV write-down announcement earlier this month, the automaker canceled three models planned for production in the US.

Max Knoblauch21h

Disney ends its OpenAI deal after Sora video app is shuttered

Disney is exiting its first-of-its-kind deal with OpenAI now that the AI giant is winding down its AI video app, Sora, according to reporting by The Hollywood Reporter.

The news comes just three months after the deal — which included a reported $1 billion Disney investment in OpenAI and a license for the AI giant to use some Disney characters — was first announced.

“We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators,” a Disney spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.

We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.

We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on…
— Sora (@soraofficialapp) March 24, 2026

Disney Exits OpenAI Deal After AI Giant Shutters Sora

We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.

We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on…
— Sora (@soraofficialapp) March 24, 2026

Max Knoblauch3/24/26

United CEO says airfares would have to go up another 20% to “break even” if fuel prices remain elevated

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby expects oil prices to stay higher for longer and warned that airfares, which have already gone up by double digits in the past few weeks, will need to climb another 20% in order for the airline to “break even” on fuel.

“Airfares are up 15% to 20% in the last few weeks, but that’s sort of covering half to 60% of the inflationary increase, so I think we have some room to go,” Kirby said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. “If oil prices stayed where they are today, that’s $11 billion of expense for us. And that would require prices to be up 20% to break even.”

Kirby said that he is sure there will be some consumer pushback to increased fares, but added, like several other airline execs recently, that Q1 demand is still strong.

“Demand is the strongest it’s been, ever. The top 10 booking weeks of the year have all been in 2026 so far,” he said.

Jet fuel costs have remained elevated amid the US war with Iran, with prices cracking the $4 mark last week, according to the Argus US Jet Fuel Index. Since US airlines have virtually all given up the practice of fuel hedging, they’re more exposed to volatility.

Last week, United issued a worst-case oil pricing forecast of $175 per barrel, with prices trading above $100 through 2027.

“It’s reasonable for us to plan for that regardless, because the downside is pretty limited,” said Kirby. “Like, [if] we leave a little bit of demand on the table by not flying quite as much this summer, so what.”