Take-Two moves Grand Theft Auto 6 out of current fiscal year
Take-Two today released its financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter, covering the three months ended March 31, narrowing the Grand Theft Auto 6 release window while taking a massive loss thanks largely to goodwill impairment and restructuring charges.
When Take-Two reported its fiscal 2023 earnings last year, it took the unusual step of talking about numbers more than a year into the future, saying it expected $8 billion in bookings for fiscal 2025. While it never said it outright, this was largely taken to mean the much-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 would launch in the company's fiscal 2025, which ends March 31, 2025.
Rockstar has indeed announced a 2025 release window for Grand Theft Auto 6, but Take-Two today said that has been narrowed to the fall of 2025, putting it in the publisher's fiscal 2026.
"We are highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience, and our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase," Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said in announcing the company's earnings.
In a briefing call with GamesIndustry.biz around the earnings, Zelnick acknowledged the increasing expectations around Grand Theft Auto 6, but declined to confirm whether those expectations are now larger than those of any other game the company has previously released.
"I couldn't be more enthusiastic than I am about Grand Theft Auto 6 and everything it can bring to consumers," Zelnick said. "I couldn't be more excited, but I'd probably stop short of establishing any expectations. As a practice, we prefer to talk about success after we've had it."
On that note, he pointed out that Grand Theft Auto 5 has now sold in about 200 million units worldwide, and engagement in Grand Theft Auto Online "is higher than we possibly could have expected."
Take-Two said Grand Theft Auto 5's audience size grew 35% for the full year, while Grand Theft Auto Online's audeince grew 23%.
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