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

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.