Topline
Gamers will need to wait even longer for highly-anticipated sequel to one of the most popular video game franchises ever in Grand Theft Auto, as the next installment of the raunchy adventure series won’t come out this year, the game’s maker Take-Two Interactive said Friday, plummeting Take-Two stock.
Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI trailer came out in December 2023, but it won’t be out until … More
Key Facts
Take-Two said it expects Grand Theft Auto VI will come out May 26, 2026, well beyond the company’s previously targeted release of fall 2025.
“We are very sorry that this is later than you expected,” read a message posted Friday to the website of Rockstar Games, the Take-Two subsidiary studio behind Grand Theft Auto.
Shares of Take-Two plunged more than 10% to below $210 in morning trading Friday.
Crucial Quote
“Investors were braced for a potential slight delay…but certainly not mid-2026,” JPMorgan analyst Cory Carpenter wrote in a Friday note to clients. In a glimmer of hope for GTA fans, the “risk of a further delay is limited,” according to Carpenter, who added it was “notable a specific date, not window was provided” for the release.
Key Background
The company released its first trailer for the game in December 2023, and analysts at the time projected Grand Theft Auto VI would come out by March 2025. The previous game in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto V, was released in 2013 and is the third best-selling video game of all time with more than 200 million copies sold, according to IGN; only Tetris and Minecraft are more popular. Other video game franchises under the Take-Two umbrella include NBA 2K and Red Dead.
