Take-Two may have hinted at Grand Theft Auto 6’s planned release window
Take-Two’s latest financial guidance may have alluded to plans to release Grand Theft Auto 6 by March 2024, an analyst has suggested.
On Monday, Rockstar’s parent company revealed its intention to acquire Zynga in a $12.7 billion deal – the biggest ever in the games industry.
As part of the announcement, the company forecast that its compound annual growth rate through 2024 will be 14%.
As spotted by Axios, this led industry analysts to believe the publisher is planning a major release for its fiscal year ending on March 31, 2014.
Cowen’s Doug Creutz said the guidance equated to some $9 billion in consumer spending, pointing to “a likely GTA 6 launch in FY24.”
He told Axios that Take-Two previously hinted at a 2012 or early 2013 release window for Grand Theft Auto V via financial targets, before pointing to a delay when it subsequently lowered its guidance (the game would go on to be released in late 2013).
“So yeah, there absolutely is precedent for putting a Rockstar game into #s before it’s officially dated (and then getting it wrong),” he said.
A Jefferies analyst also said in a research note this week: “There are only a handful of titles that can … provide management with the confidence to put out such a strong guidance; we believe there is at least one Rockstar IP set to be released by FY24.”
Industry insider Tom Henderson claimed last July that Grand Theft Auto 6 would release in either 2024 or 2025, partly due to Rockstar’s new focus on employee wellbeing following criticism of its alleged crunch culture. His claims were backed up by well-informed Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, as well as VGC’s own sources.
Rockstar is currently gearing up to release the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Grand Theft Auto V in March.
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