A report urged the anticipated launch date of Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) was delayed from preliminary projections.
After greater than a decade since GTA 5, Rockstar Video games lastly pulled the curtain again on the studio’s subsequent entry into the beloved open-world crime franchise, releasing a debut trailer in December 2023 with a nebulous launch window of 2025.
Whereas a particular launch date has but to be introduced, it has been assumed the sport would come someday earlier than the top of March 2025 due to earnings projections from Rockstar’s mother or father firm Take-Two Interactive (learn extra about these projections right here).
GTA Launch Doubtless Coming Later Than Anticipated
In response to new data, GTA 6 may very well be launched later than was initially anticipated by followers.
The hotly anticipated open-world title has seemingly been delayed from fiscal yr 2025 to fiscal yr 2026 for Rockstar Video games’ mother or father firm Take-Two Interactive.
A brand new memo titled “$7 Billion Means No GTA in FY:25” from Wedbush Securities analysts Nick McKay and Michael Pachter was despatched to buyers of the online game publishing large, alluding to feedback from Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein on a current earnings name the place projections for the upcoming yr have been quoted at “somewhat above $7 billion [in] internet bookings:”
“At the moment, the quantity is monitoring somewhat above $7 billion for internet bookings for the yr and given the standard shifts and tweaks that happen in our forecasting course of. And this quantity continues to be large progress over this yr. And our pipeline is groundbreaking for subsequent yr and past, and our groups are making wonderful progress on sport growth.”
This $7 billion quantity is $1 billion lower than projections for a similar interval from Might 2023.
Goldstein cited this drop in anticipated internet reserving income to “adjustments within the launch schedule,” noting they nonetheless “anticipate to see progress in fiscal yr ’26 over ’25:”
“So, for fiscal yr ‘25, as I discussed, it’s actually pushed by adjustments within the launch schedule. And clearly, that may transfer a few of the titles out into years going ahead as a result of the lifetime worth of our portfolio hasn’t modified. So, we should always – we do anticipate to see progress in fiscal yr ‘26 over ‘25, in order that hasn’t modified.”
Whereas the Take-Two government doesn’t name out GTA 6 particularly, solely a choose few names in gaming might spell the form of $1 billion shift in issues that Goldstein described, and Grand Theft Auto is considered one of them.
In McKay and Pachter’s memo despatched to Take-Two buyers, the analysts surmised this should imply “GTA VI has slipped out of FY:25:”
“We are able to solely surmise that ‘GTA VI’ has slipped out of FY:25, in-line with our earlier expectation. Administration had stated that subsequent yr’s bookings quantity shall be simply over $7 billion, a far cry from its preliminary feedback of $8 billion in Might, and its first revision of just below $8 billion in November.”
Nevertheless, with that stated, they reiterated, “We now have no motive to imagine the sport has slipped out of calendar 2025:”
“The drop makes us virtually sure that ‘GTA VI’ is not going to be releasing subsequent FY. With that stated, we now have no motive to imagine the sport has slipped out of calendar 2025, however it’s affordable to imagine that it’s going to launch later within the yr.”
When Will GTA 6 Be Launched?
With these new projections in thoughts, one can begin to predict when GTA 6 will ultimately come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X/S.
Some beforehand had the title pegged for a February or March 2025 launch, however that doesn’t seem like it is going to occur.
As defined by Wedbush Securities analysts Nick McKay and Michael Pachter in a memo despatched to buyers, simply because GTA 6 is not going to hit fiscal yr 2025 doesn’t imply it is going to miss 2025 totally.
As of late, Rockstar Video games has preferred to deliver out its greatest and brightest titles later within the yr.
GTA V was launched on PS3/Xbox 360 on September 17, 2013, and PS4/Xbox One on November 18, 2014. Purple Useless Redemption 2 adopted go well with, coming to PS4/Xbox One on October 26, 2018. Meaning a fall 2025 launch date for GTA 6 appears extremely doubtless.
Whereas a September launch date for GTA 5 labored for Rockstar, sometimes studios prefer to put out their heaviest hitters between October 1 and November 15.
This permits ample time for inventory to be offered main into Black Friday and thru the vacation season.
Whereas selecting an actual date is a idiot’s errand at this level, a GTA 6 launch someday in mid-October or early November 2025 seems like a reasonably good wager.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is about to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X/S someday in 2025.
Learn extra about GTA 6:
This GTA 6 Video Spoils the Recreation’s Twist Ending, In response to Some Followers
GTA 6 Value: How A lot Will It Value to Pre-Order the New Grand Theft Auto?
GTA 6 Controversy Defined: Why Some Followers Are Indignant With the New Recreation
GTA 6 Solid, Characters & Voice Actors Leaks & Rumors