Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games might prefer to keep GTA 6 a secret, but they can't hide it forever. In its latest earnings report, Take-Two could have just very well said that the next GTA game would be out by next year.
In a press release launched alongside its annual earnings report, Take-Two shared what its projections were for the future, including a massive jump for the next fiscal year, saying:
For the last several years, we have been preparing our business to release an incredibly robust pipeline of projects that we believe will take our company to even greater levels of success. In Fiscal 2025, we expect to enter this new era by launching several groundbreaking titles that we believe will set new standards in our industry and enable us to achieve over $8 billion in Net Bookings and over $1 billion in Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow. We expect to sustain this momentum by delivering even higher levels of operating results in Fiscal 2026 and beyond.
Now, why do people think that Take-Two confirmed the launch of GTA 6 with its statement?
For starters, very few games net a billion in revenue in a single fiscal year. To date, no game has ever beaten the record set by Grand Theft Auto V when it came out in 2013.
The second-best-selling video game of all time was amazing at launch, earning $800 million in its first day and a billion in three days. For context, the only other game to have breached the billion-dollar mark within a month of launching since then is Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which reached the mind-boggling figure in 10 days last year.
Even if we go outside the video game industry and include Hollywood, the only movie that comes close to this astronomical number is Avengers: Endgame. The finale to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's The Infinity Saga pulled in a billion at the global box office on its fifth day in theaters.
Furthermore, Take-Two posted a record annual high Net Bookings of $5.3 billion for Fiscal 2023, thanks mostly to its acquisition of Zynga last year. Before this, Take-Two's annual revenue was at a $3 billion clip for a while.
For Take-Two to expect more than $8 billion in Net Bookings from the period of April 2024 to March 2025, which represents a nearly $3 billion jump in two years, suggests that something big is coming.
In the off-chance that this statement isn't hinting at GTA 6, Take-Two could have a different massive acquisition planned alongside a slate of similarly impactful games launching in the next Fiscal Year. But, unless it's a combination of the long-rumored remakes of GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption, it's difficult to think of anything else that could make more than a billion in revenue in a single fiscal year.
Ultimately, all the info we have on hand right now suggests that GTA 6 is in its final stages of development at the moment.
Fingers crossed, Rockstar Games will reveal it sooner rather than later. But, then again, it could do what it did with Red Dead Redemption 2 and announce the game's imminent arrival simply by dropping a single image on one of its social media accounts.
It isn't ideal, but this is Rockstar we're talking about here.
@PVP_Prowler,
You're not wrong, either. That's actually a really good point about GTA+. And the fact that you've given me this perspective of GTA+ being a source of cash flow until GTA 6 gives me hope that the microtransactions in GTA 6 won't be affected by GTA+ decisions. Many suspected that GTA 6's microtransactions would be horrid due to the recent GTA+ changes. But looking at it from your perspective makes it unlikely!
@Hassan,
You have a point there. I guess the updates seem to be getting less and less impressive BUT the thing is, they are trying to push more players onto GTA+. So maybe they know they won't be doing many updates moving forward and need a way to have cash coming in while working on GTA 6.
@PVP_Prowler,
I mean in the sense that they are trying to milk the crap out of the game, sure. I think a lot of people are playing less and less but they still have so many players that play on a daily or weekly basis so it would be silly to not throw new content at it.
@PVP_Prowler,
Isn't it the opposite, considering how underwhelming the new updates are getting in GTA Online? I would understand not adding major updates in GTA Online since I am now convinced it is just a time pass for them until they get the GTA 6 ready.
I think one major DLC revolving around Michael will be added in the future. I'm just not sure when. I still think the announcement could be sooner than we think. But the release? Hopefully mid-2025 or early-2026. I really hope it's the former. We need a new GTA game already!
@stealthMode,
Yeah this recent update has be feeling like we have a ways to go and we will all be waiting awhile. I was a bit more optimistic before but not so much now.
With what they did in the recent update, they are in no rush to release the new one. They want to milk the GTA 5 cow to death. I am not expecting the game until 2026 at this point. I hope I am wrong.
I really don't know if we will be seeing PS6/XBOXTwo (lol) anytime soon. If there did do a 2025 release I could see Rockstar waiting to release the game the same year just to make sure it works on the new consoles.
@PVP_Prowler,
If I had to guess I would say 2026. There really isn't much news on anything yet. I don't think we should expect anything for 2024 or 2025 but I could be wrong.
@EliteGamer,
Fair to say. It could cause issues. When are the next consoles due? I don't even know. Maybe they would rather line things up with those?
@stealthMode,
If they push for this though, there is a high chance of problems happening upon the release, especially for online. Unless they release the game for offline play only and online comes after the fact again.
Maybe I am on my own with this one but I feel like they are going to push to have it out for fall of 2024. Especially because we are going to have a lot of people who will want the distraction away from American politics. You know the next presidential run is going to have people losing their minds again. I certain need an escape from it haha
If they are already talking about other titles, I would imagine they are going to bring back Bully. I know people have been begging for it. I am focusing on GTA 6 for the time being and I hope they are too.
"Fiscal 2025, we expect to enter this new era by launching several groundbreaking titles"
Several? I wonder what they have planned. Like are we going to see another new game like LA Noire? I would love something like that again.
I was thinking this at first myself but considering they announced it was under production not that long ago, I can't see it happening. I think it will end up being pushed to 2025, likely coming out in the fall.
I keep seeing people saying it is coming out next year and I just can't see it happening. Some were even saying this year. Like are you for real? This game is going to take a while to make and testing alone will probably be a good 6 months to a year.