Aug 7 (Reuters) – Take-Two Interactive maintained its annual bookings forecast on Friday, raising some concerns around the strength of demand for its highly anticipated title “Grand Theft Auto VI”.
The company reiterated the November 19 launch date for the blockbuster title, which is expected to be a gold mine for the videogame publisher this year. Shares of the company were marginally up in volatile premarket trading.
Take-Two began taking pre-orders for “GTA VI” on June 25. It has priced the game at $79.99, making it one of the most expensive base versions of a videogame. The company priced its “Ultimate Edition” of the game, which comes with exclusive vehicles, weapons and other add-ons, at $99.99.
The expensive price tag is unlikely to dent sales though, as fans have been waiting for the release for 13 years, making it the industry’s most awaited title.
“GTA VI” is expected to rake in billions of dollars for Take-Two within days of the launch, thanks to the franchise’s popularity. The company is looking to build on the success of its predecessor ‘GTA V’ – one of the best-selling games ever, with nearly 230 million units sold since its 2013 launch.
Take-Two said it expects fiscal 2027 bookings of $8 billion to $8.20 billion. Analysts on average were expecting bookings to rise 31.9% to $8.86 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The company forecast second-quarter bookings between $1.62 billion and $1.67 billion, below analysts’ average estimate of $1.85 billion.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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