Aaaand just like that, the most anticipated video game of the 21st century got punted into the fiscal abyss… again. Take-Two Interactive, the proud parent of Rockstar Games and the spiritual home of digital degeneracy, just announced that Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be gracing your console until May 2026. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Wall Street’s reaction? A collective “you’ve got to be f*ing kidding me,” followed by a 6.66% drop in TTWO stock—which, if you’re into numerology, is probably the Devil’s way of shorting this entire space. In short, the last time we got a fresh GTA title, Obama was still in office and TikTok wasn’t a national security threat. GTA V dropped in 2013, and it’s gone on to sell over 200 million copies, mostly because Rockstar kept porting it to every new console that was compatible with the game responsible for every 10 year old’s initiation into crime. 

Now, a decade and change later, GTA VI has been teased, trailer-ed, and borderline mythologized—only to now get delayed a full additional year. From Fall 2025 to May 2026. Because of course it did. Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick (who definitely refers to himself as “Strausss” in the third person LOL), issued a statement with all the warmth of a “my head hurts, but maybe later” tease: “We support fully Rockstar Games taking additional time to realize their creative vision.” 

(Source: CNBC) 

Obviously, consumers and Wall Street alike are pissed. But what are they going to do? Go to a different game? No. They are going to sit on their hands and wait, because Take-Two giveth and taketh away. And when they giveth in 2026, they’ll still print money. Hell, GTA VI could release in 2029 on a calculator, and it would still sell 100 million copies by lunch. This isn’t a product. It’s a cultural event. The trailer alone dropped in December 2023 and racked up 100 million views in 24 hours for K-Pop bands and leaked celebrity sex tapes.

However, this is no doubt a fiscal gut punch. GTA VI was baked into every analyst’s 2025 forecast like it was already on shelves. Now it’s skipped right past fiscal 2026 and into 2027, and that means booking expectations just got curb-stomped. As for Take-Two’s part, they say everything is fine. They’re still projecting “record net bookings” in both FY26 and FY27. Which is a nice way of saying: “We’ve got other sh*t to sell you in the meantime.” And yeah, they do: Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country are lined up, and they’re probably solid. But the real meat is GTA, always has been, and always will. 

(Source: WSJ) 

Meanwhile the retail sentiment is mixed. Some keyboard warriors are having meltdowns, while other fans are coping or screaming into their stained pillows. But then there are others who are happy because “more time = more polish,” as if Rockstar hasn’t been surgically remonetizing your attention span since 2013. The wildest part? This entire delay is good business. Take-Two knows exactly what it’s doing. They’ve been milking the same cow for a decade, and they’ll stretch this out until the absolute last second. Why rush a guaranteed $2–3 billion launch when you can slow-roll the hype and still dominate the market?

Call it cynical. Call it genius. To me? It’s both. For now, investors and consumers will sit, wait, and watch GTA RP streamers try to stay relevant for two more years without losing their minds. May 2026 is the new promised land. And if you think this is the last delay, you haven’t been paying attention. 

(Source: Giphy) 

As for TTWO investors, the next big catalyst is the May 15th earnings, and you can bet analysts will be bringing torches and pitchforks. Of course, only time will tell what the impact of this delay will be in the short term, but long term? It’s a money printer no doubt. Meaning, do what you will with this information, and place your bets accordingly. Until next time, friends…

P.S. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you liked getting rekt. Let’s face it, retail investors get the short end of the stick all day everyday. It’s the smart money’s world, and we are just living in it–only useful when it comes to liquidity purposes in the market. Meaning, if you’re as pissed off as I was when I found out Milli Vanilli was lip syncing the whole time, then it’s time to go from investing blind, to investing smart. Luckily for you, the key is right here as a Stocks.News premium member. Click here to see exactly how our premium members are printing while others quake in the face of today’s market chaos. 

Stocks.News holds positions in Take-Two Interactive Software as mentioned in the article.