New York, May 5, 2026, 10:08 (EDT)
Take-Two Interactive Software dropped roughly 1% in early trading Tuesday, cooling off from a rally that followed new Wall Street chatter around the possibility of Grand Theft Auto VI launching at an $80 price point. CEO Strauss Zelnick called anticipation for the next Rockstar Games release both “exciting. And terrifying.” The Star
The clock’s ticking for Take-Two. GTA VI tops the company’s slate, and investors remain eager for concrete details on pricing, release dates, and any read on initial demand ahead of fiscal Q4 and full-year earnings, set for release after the bell on May 21.
Rockstar’s website now shows a Nov. 19, 2026 release date for the game, set to hit Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S. No word yet on a PC launch, so a significant chunk of the gaming audience is left waiting.
Zelnick, speaking to Bloomberg News, said Take-Two wants to give consumers something they haven’t seen before. The ambition this time is clear—Grand Theft Auto V moved over 225 million copies, and now some analysts are looking for GTA VI to top 25 million units on its first day.
That’s no small feat. Zelnick pointed out that development costs “have gone up and up,” noting that artificial intelligence hasn’t really brought those expenses down yet. Take-Two keeps GTA VI’s budget under wraps. The Star
Bank of America’s Omar Dessouky, in a research note, suggested an $80 price tag for GTA VI might push up prices across the industry. “Raise the price point for the entire industry,” Dessouky said, arguing it would benefit Take-Two, though he also pointed out that Take-Two executives haven’t backed the idea. VGC
Bank of America bumped its price target on Take-Two up to $320, according to GameSpot. Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics told the outlet that consumer demand for top titles remains strong, saying, “The market will bear it.” GameSpot
It’s not just Take-Two feeling the heat on pricing. Nintendo ran with an $80 price point for Mario Kart World; Take-Two, for its part, helped kick off the $60-to-$70 leap for console titles at the top of this console cycle.
Still, the risks are hard to miss. Take-Two hasn’t locked in a price for GTA VI yet, and launching on consoles first could push some PC players to wait. CEO Zelnick told Bloomberg that up to half of sales for a major Take-Two release now come from PC—45% to 50%—but says Rockstar rolls out on consoles initially to reach what he calls the “core” audience. The Star
If the release slips again, or if pricing comes in above expectations and triggers resistance, or if post-launch spending in GTA’s online mode lags, that would alter the thesis. For the moment, though, the market’s assigning value to more than a single boxed title—it’s banking on an ongoing platform built to keep players opening their wallets for the long haul.
Back in February, Take-Two bumped up its fiscal 2026 net bookings outlook, now guiding to $6.65 billion to $6.7 billion. For the fiscal third quarter, net bookings landed at $1.76 billion—topping Wall Street’s consensus, according to LSEG figures. Net bookings, which capture both full-game sales and in-game purchases prior to certain accounting tweaks, have become a key industry metric.
Eyes now turn to the May 21 earnings call, set for 4:30 p.m. Eastern. That’s when Take-Two’s management gets to revisit GTA VI timing, talk pricing, and lay out the bookings forecast ahead of Rockstar’s most anticipated release window in over ten years.
