New York, May 14, 2026, 13:05 EDT
Take-Two Interactive Software surged roughly 6.5% by midday Thursday, sparked by chatter around a leaked Best Buy affiliate campaign hinting Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders might go live next week. Shares changed hands at $241.68, pushing the company’s market cap up to around $44.8 billion.
Just days ahead of Take-Two’s scheduled fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 earnings, the announcement zeroed in on what’s front-of-mind for investors: is Rockstar Games still set to deliver the company’s most anticipated release ever? Take-Two plans to post results after markets close May 21, followed by a 4:30 p.m. Eastern call.
According to Rockstar’s website, GTA VI is now slated to launch Nov. 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. That update puts the release at the heart of Take-Two’s fiscal 2027 projections, after previous delays bumped it from earlier targets.
Best Buy affiliate partners got emails about a “GTA 6 Pre Order (Physical Game)” campaign, Game Informer reported, listing May 18 to May 21 and mentioning a 5% earnings or discount. Still, the outlet warned, an affiliate campaign isn’t confirmation that pre-orders are going live—it could just be an error or a misprint. Game Informer
Take-Two shares picked up steam earlier after preorder rumors started swirling, Investing.com said. The site pointed out that Bloomberg News and other media hadn’t confirmed whether the Best Buy email was legit. No word from Rockstar or Take-Two either—nothing official on a pre-order date yet.
It’s a jumpy setup heading into earnings. Options tracked by Bloomberg suggest Take-Two shares could swing as much as 9.4% when results hit next week—traders have been building in that kind of move through derivatives, though the options-implied swing isn’t about picking a direction.
Take-Two posted a 28% jump in fiscal third-quarter net bookings to $1.76 billion, putting up solid numbers for the market to chew on. The company, which counts everything from digital sales to licensing and merch in that metric, also bumped up its fiscal 2026 net bookings outlook, now targeting $6.65 billion to $6.7 billion.
Strauss Zelnick, the chief executive, told investors the company is looking for record net bookings in fiscal 2027, with GTA VI serving as a major driver. He described the launch as “highly anticipated,” expecting it to “set a new financial baseline” for Take-Two. Take-Two Interactive
Pricing is another angle here. Bank of America’s Omar Dessouky, in a recent note, said Take-Two ought to price GTA VI above the $70 mark. He argued that if GTA VI sticks to $70, the industry will have a tough time convincing players to pay $80 for anything else. “We think it’s in Take-Two’s self-interest … to raise the price point for the entire industry,” Dessouky wrote. TipRanks
Prediction markets aren’t sending a clear signal. Over on Kalshi’s video-games page, the odds for GTA VI hitting shelves before 2027 sat at 82%. Polymarket, for its part, pegged a 69% shot at seeing a fresh official GTA VI trailer by May 31, and just a 10% chance the base game’s price tag lands at $100 or more.
The rally separated itself from the rest of the sector. Electronic Arts gained around 0.2%, while Roblox advanced roughly 3.4% at the same moment. The numbers point to Take-Two’s single-title driver, rather than any broad-based push for gaming stocks.
The risk stands out. A retailer email, no matter how legitimate, isn’t an official word from Rockstar—and Take-Two’s shares have a history of sharp swings when it comes to GTA VI release chatter. CEO Strauss Zelnick isn’t rushing to call it, either. “We never claim success before it occurs,” he told Bloomberg recently. PC Gamer
So, May 21 is circled as the next key date. Investors are hunting for specifics—pre-orders, pricing, what the marketing rollout looks like, and if Rockstar still aims for that November release. For now, Thursday’s action is all about betting on the calendar, not actual sales numbers.
