Copyright Variety
“Grand Theft Auto VI” has been delayed again by Take-Two Interactive’s Rockstar Games, this time pushed six months from its previously set May 2026 release date. Along with its July-September quarterly earnings results Thursday, Take-Two announced the much-anticipated action-adventure open world title will now launch Nov. 19, 2026. In a letter to shareholders accompanying the financial results, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick did not give a reason for the “GTA 6” delay, but noted, “we remain both excited and confident they will deliver an unrivalled blockbuster entertainment experience.” “In this instance, of course, we’re seeking to release the most extraordinary title anyone’s ever seen in the history of entertainment,” Zelnick told Variety in an interview ahead of the announcement Thursday. “That’s a tall order. And in this instance, Rockstar Games believes a limited amount of additional time is required for polish to support that view.” The Take-Two team says that the recent firings of approximately 30-40 employees at Rockstar Games in the U.K. is unrelated to the “GTA 6” delay. While a U.K. union claims the employees were let go in a “union-busting” move, Rockstar said in a statement Wednesday these staffers “were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies” and the cuts were “in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.” “These two matters are entirely separate, and the reasons that we’ve given for each,” a spokesperson for Take-Two said Thursday. “And I think to conflate the two would not only be misleading, it would be highly erroneous. So these are two entirely separate issues.” Now in development for more than a decade, Rockstar’s “GTA 6” was originally on target for a fall 2025 release until the developer finally announced this May that the game would not be ready until May 26, 2026. Since that time, all remarks from Take-Two have pointed to “GTA 6” making that date. In addition to the “GTA 6” shuffle news, Take-Two updated its release calendar Thursday to include “BioShock next iteration” from 2K and “Top Goal” from Zynga, both with “TBA” launch dates. Wall Street forecast a loss of earnings per share (EPS) of 62 cents on $1.74 billion in revenue for Take-Two, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG. Take-Two reported a GAAP net loss of 73 cents per share (or $133.9 million) on $1.77 billion in revenue. Net bookings were $1.96 billion and non-GAAP earnings stood at $116.7 million. For the July 1-Sept. 30 quarter, Take-Two had projected net bookings between $1.7 billion and $1.75 billion and a GAAP net loss per share between 75 cents and 60 cents (a loss of $136 million to $110 million). Take Two says top revenue drivers for the quarter were “NBA 2K26” and “NBA 2K25,” “Borderlands 4,” “Toon Blast,” “Grand Theft Auto Online” and “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Match Factory!,” “Color Block Jam,” “Mafia: The Old Country,” “Empires & Puzzles,” “Words With Friends,” “Red Dead Redemption 2” and “Red Dead Online,” and “Toy Blast.” Take-Two is now projecting net bookings between $1.55 billion and $1.6 billion for the October-December period a net loss per share between 49 cents and 35 cents. The company has raised the estimated net bookings for its current full fiscal year (ending March 31, 2026) to between $6.4 billion and $6.5 billion.
