(Reuters) -Take-Two Interactive on Thursday forecast fiscal 2026 bookings below revised Wall Street expectations, signaling that a strong lineup of releases this year may not cushion a hit from the delay of its highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto VI”.
The company expects bookings of between $5.9 billion and $6 billion, compared with expectations of $6.46 billion, according to an average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha that were revised after “GTA VI” was delayed.
Shares of the New York-based company fell nearly 2% in extended trading.
The next installment in the best-selling “Grand Theft Auto” franchise is expected to sell millions of copies and generate billions in the first few weeks. Take-Two’s decision to delay the long-awaited game into fiscal 2027 could weigh on its overall bookings for this year, but could benefit it in the next.
“As we bring our exciting lineup to market, including Grand Theft Auto VI in fiscal 2027, we expect to achieve record levels of net bookings,” said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.
The delay of “GTA VI” has led to a wave of release dates for that launch window from publishers looking to capitalize on the absence of Take-Two’s likely blockbuster title which would have dominated sales charts.
Take-Two has other titles lined up for the year such as “Borderlands 4”, and “Mafia: The Old Country”, but their potentially strong releases are unlikely to stave off a hit from the delay of “GTA VI.”
The company expects bookings for the first quarter to be between $1.25 billion and $1.30 billion, compared with estimates of $1.28 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
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