Aug 7 (Reuters) – Take-Two Interactive maintained its annual bookings forecast on Friday, but reiterated the November 19 launch date for its highly anticipated title “Grand Theft Auto VI”, bringing the blockbuster release one step closer to fans.
Shares of the company were marginally up in volatile premarket trading after Take-Two projected current-quarter bookings below Wall Street estimates, signaling continued weakness from the lack of new titles ahead of “GTA VI” release.
The videogame publisher began taking pre-orders for “GTA VI” on June 25, but did not provide any details on demand trends in its earnings report.
The game is expected to be a gold mine for the company this year, raking in billions of dollars within days of its launch, thanks to the franchise’s popularity. “GTA V”, the predecessor, is one of the best-selling games ever, and has sold nearly 230 million units since its 2013 launch.
Investors have been closely watching for any indication around an online, multiplayer mode for “GTA VI”, hoping that Take-Two would replicate the success of “GTA V Online”, which has been a consistent source of revenue for the company.
The online version helped the company keep players engaged long after the release of “GTA V”, with live-service components of a title typically allowing companies to generate more income through players’ purchases of in-game currency.
Take-Two said it expects fiscal 2027 bookings of $8 billion to $8.20 billion. Analysts on average were expecting a 31.9% rise to $8.86 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The company forecast second-quarter bookings between $1.62 billion and $1.67 billion, below analysts’ average estimate of $1.85 billion.
For the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, net bookings stood at $1.39 billion, a touch above market estimates of $1.38 billion.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
