Take-Two says GTA 6 preorders are “continuing to reach unprecedented levels”, but it still won’t give a number. Confirmed CEO Strauss Zelnick said so in the company’s results on November 9, ten days before launch. Take-Two kept its forecast of $8.0 to $8.2 billion in net bookings for the year and still lists GTA 6 for November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
These results cover July to September 2026, so there are no GTA 6 launch sales in them. What matters is what Take-Two said about the next few weeks.
What Take-Two said about GTA 6
Confirmed Zelnick’s statement in the results release, in his words: “The launch of Grand Theft Auto VI is ten days away and, with pre-orders continuing to reach unprecedented levels, we expect to deliver an historic year for our company.”
The release itself also confirms:
- Confirmed GTA 6 is still listed for November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. No other platform is listed.
- Confirmed The year forecast stays at $8.0 to $8.2 billion in net bookings, the same as in August.
- Confirmed The Grand Theft Auto series was again among the biggest earners of the quarter, alongside NBA 2K.
- Not announced No preorder count, no split between the Standard and Ultimate Editions, and no PC or online plans.
On the call that followed, an analyst asked whether AI tools would make big games easier to produce. Zelnick answered that “hit creation remains the purview of human beings”, as GamesRadar reported.
The quarter in numbers
Take-Two had given a forecast for this quarter in August. Here is how it landed:
| Measure | Forecast in August | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Net bookings | $1.62 to $1.67 billion | $1.60 billion, down 18% on a year ago |
| GAAP net revenue | $1.42 to $1.47 billion | $1.50 billion |
| GAAP net loss | $140 to $157 million | $54.0 million |
| Spending inside games (recurrent consumer spending) | Down about 5% | Down 9% in net bookings, 81% of the total |
Analysis Net bookings came in just under the forecast range, while revenue and profit came in better. None of this is about GTA 6: the same quarter a year earlier had the launch of Borderlands 4, and this one had no big release besides NBA 2K27.
The number that points at GTA 6
Confirmed For October to December 2026, the quarter GTA 6 launches in, Take-Two forecasts net bookings of $3.35 to $3.5 billion. That is more than double the $1.60 billion it just reported.
Analysis Take-Two doesn’t say how much of that is GTA 6, and it has to cover all its games, including GTA Online and NBA 2K. But no other launch of that size is on its list for the quarter, so the gap between the two quarters is mostly GTA 6’s first six weeks. It is also a forecast set before a single copy is sold, and Take-Two has a habit of being cautious.
For context, the analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated about 7.7 million digital preorders in early November, roughly three quarters of them on PS5, Kotaku reported. That is an outside estimate, not a Take-Two figure.
What wasn’t said
- Not announced A preorder number. Take-Two has never given one. Sony’s claim that GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game in PlayStation Store history also came without a number.
- Not announced PC. GTA 6 is listed for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only. See Is GTA 6 on PC?
- Not announced Online. Rockstar still describes GTA 6 as a single player game at launch. Our single player and online post has what is confirmed.
Our preview of the call has the questions going in, and the Take-Two earnings and GTA sales page has the long-run figures.
Common questions
When will we get the first official GTA 6 sales figure?
Analysis Possibly within days of launch, if Take-Two announces a milestone as it did for GTA V in 2013, when it said GTA V passed $1 billion in three days. Full figures come with the October to December results, usually in early February.
Did Take-Two raise its forecast?
No. Confirmed It kept the $8.0 to $8.2 billion net bookings forecast for the year to March 2027, the same range it gave in August.
Sources
Comments
No comments yet. Ask a question or share a tip.
