Take-Two Sets Rockstar’s GTA 6 Launch Window While Company Stock Tanks

It is absolutely no exaggeration to say that Grand Theft Auto VI is currently the most-anticipated game in the market, and quite possibly the most-anticipated game of all time. Some people have even placed their hopes on Rockstar's next game to revive a sagging console and AAA games industry. Certainly it will be the most expensive-to-produce video game of all time, and one of the top-selling unless it's hot garbage on arrival.

This massive tectonic effect on the industry is exactly why Take-Two's shares fell more than 2.5% yesterday after the company noted that the next Grand Theft Auto title won't be showing up until late next year—specifically, in the fall. Gamers won't be surprised by this at all—there were 22 months between the first GTA V trailer and the game's eventual release in 2013. (Yes, it's nearly been 11 years since GTA V came out for the Xbox 360 and PS3.)

It still clearly comes as a disappointment to people in the industry—particularly at Sony and Microsoft, we expect—who may have been hoping for a holiday release to revive sales of current-generation consoles. Take-Two shareholders were also disappointed, as the publisher revised its FY2025 bookings forecast to around $5.6b, a significant drop from the prior forecast of over $7 billion USD.


Grand Theft Auto V remains a major source of income for Take-Two, of course, thanks to its still-supported GTA Online mode that sees the game continue to be one of the most-played titles on Steam to this day; in the last 24 hours, the game peaked at 131,553 players according to Steamcharts. Steam is surely a small percentage of the playerbase for this title, so it's safe to say that the game is still quite healthy.

In the same investor call, Take-Two disclosed that lifetime sales of GTA V had reached 200 million units, and that apparently its audience grew by some 35% in the last year. Strong performance for an 11 year old game. With this announcement and Nintendo's promise to give more information about the Switch 2 next year, 2025 is shaping up to be a big deal for gamers after a so-far relatively lackluster 2024.