‘GTA 6’ Delay: Take-Two Chief Strauss Zelnick Breaks Down Rockstar’s Decision to Shift Game to Next Year, Industry Price Increases

Take-Two Interactive reported its latest earnings Thursday, which included a writedown of more than $3 billion. But despite that hit, the biggest news for the company still came out nearly two weeks ahead of the financial results: the publisher’s highly anticipated Rockstar Games-developed “Grand Theft Auto 6” would be shifting from a planned fall 2025 release to a May 26, 2026 launch.

The choice, which was announced May 2, was made before Take-Two revealed these full fiscal 2025 results (which ran April 1, 2024 -March 31, 2025) and projections for its Fiscal 2026, but the company has not disclosed exactly at what point Rockstar decided “GTA 6” would need to be moved. As of February, the company had still been publicly eyeing that fall window.

“So we don’t talk about when we make decisions around here,” Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick told Variety Thursday ahead of the company’s earnings call. “And obviously, the net bookings that are expected for Fiscal ’26 are lower without the release of ‘GTA 6,’ that goes without saying. But we haven’t actually parsed what the specific effect is, although analysts have speculated. I think the key point to bear in mind is, once again, we’re setting a record, which is what we said we would do. We certainly expect growth in Fiscal ’27. This company is in extraordinarily sound shape and well positioned both for the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Wall Street forecast a loss of earnings per share (EPS) of 5 cents on $1.55 billion in revenue for Take-Two’s January-March results, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG. On Thursday, Take-Two reported $1.58 billion in net bookings. GAAP net loss was $3.78 billion, or $21.08 per share. That loss included a writedown of $3.55 billion, though Take-Two did not disclose which division within the company accounted for that large hit and declined to comment when asked.

For its full fiscal 2025, Take-Two reported net bookings of $5.65 billion. Take-Two is projecting net bookings between $5.9 to $6 billion for the year-long period between April 1, 2025-March 31, 2026.

Regarding the potential pricing for “GTA 6,” as well as the rest of Take-Two’s games moving forward, Zelnick said he’s not letting recent moves made by competitors affect what Take-Two decides to do.

“Well it’s true that some of our competitors have talked about higher prices and variable pricing. The rubric that informs our decision making is that we need and want to deliver way more value than whatever we charge consumers,” Zelnick said. “We think the consumer experiences the intersection of the thing itself. How great is the property with how much you pay for it? I think you know that anecdotally about yourself. We all feel that way. So we’re very mindful that it’s our job to deliver enormous value to consumers. We think we do just that.”