Take-Two calls GTA 6 pre-orders “unprecedented” as launch-quarter guidance lands
Take-Two Interactive has reported its September quarter with Grand Theft Auto VI ten days from launch, and the message from the top was confidence. Chief executive Strauss Zelnick told analysts on Monday that pre-orders have reached “unprecedented levels” and are tracking “far in excess of our initial expectations”, while chief financial officer Lainie Goldstein called the level of pre-orders “extraordinary”. Rockstar has finished the game and the 19 November launch date stands. The quarter was soft: net bookings of $1.60 billion, down 18 percent year on year and just under the company’s forecast, with a GAAP net loss of $54 million, or $0.29 a share. Take-Two held full-year net bookings guidance at $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion and forecast $3.35 billion to $3.50 billion for the December quarter that contains launch day. The company gave no pre-order count; a Sensor Tower estimate put digital pre-orders at 7.71 million copies worth about $751 million as of 3 November.
Sources: Reuters — Take-Two lifts annual revenue, profit forecasts ahead of “GTA VI” launch, 9 Nov · GamesBeat — All the takeaways about GTA VI from the Take-Two earnings call, 9 Nov