GTA 6 Preorder Sales During Latest Take-Two Earnings Quarter

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive drew $1.39 billion in sales from April 1-June 30, the quarter during which it opened presales for “Grand Theft Auto 6.”

During a call with analysts later Friday, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said “GTA 6” had an “exceptional start to pre-orders,” which were open for 5 days during the period.

That figure is not broken down by title, but Take-Two notes the “largest contributors” to the overall number were “‘NBA 2K,’ the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series, ‘Toon Blast,’ ‘Match Factory!,’ ‘Empires & Puzzles,’ the ‘Red Dead Redemption’ series, ‘Words With Friends,’ ‘Color Block Jam,’ ‘WWE 2K,’ ‘Zynga Poker,’ and ‘Toy Blast.’”

Preorders for “GTA 6” opened June 25, one day after Take Two-Interactive’s Rockstar Games revealed pricing for the game would be $79.99 for the standard edition, which can be purchased as a digital or physical (which includes a code in a box rather than a disc) copy. The “ultimate” version will cost $99.99 and include “an exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action threaded across all aspects” of the game.

Net bookings were down 3% from $1.42 billion in the prior year’s quarter.

Take-Two took a $43.4 million impairment charge during the quarter attributed to the “decision not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.”

Overall loss for the quarter was $35.5 million. Gross profit reached $882.5 million.

Wall Street forecast a GAAP loss of earnings per share (EPS) of 21 cents on $1.36 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG. Take-Two reported a GAAP loss per share of 18 cents on $1.39 billion in net bookings.

“Our excellent first quarter results reflect the power of our portfolio and disciplined execution across all of our labels,” CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a letter to shareholders. “With these positive trends and excitement around the November 19th launch of ‘Grand Theft Auto VI,’ we are reiterating our Fiscal 2027 Net Bookings outlook of $8.0 to $8.2 billion. Looking further ahead, we expect to sustain this new level of scale and generate strong cash flows, setting us on a path to deliver continued growth and long-term shareholder returns.”

More to come…