Take-Two Is Selling $1 Billion in Stock as GTA 6 Delay Sinks Forecasts

Take-Two Interactive is making big moves again—and not all of them are inspiring confidence. This week, the publisher behind Grand Theft Auto confirmed it’s selling $1 billion worth of its common stock in a public offering. The company will also give underwriters the option to grab an additional $150 million in shares over the next 30 days. The offering is still “subject to market conditions,” but the plan is clear.

According to Take-Two, the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, a phrase that could mean anything from paying off debt to funding new acquisitions. It’s a broad move, but the timing—coming just days after a $3.78 billion quarterly loss and a massive GTA 6 delay—has people asking questions.

“Take-Two intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment of outstanding debt and future acquisitions.”

That came directly from the company.

The real reason everyone’s watching Take-Two this month is GTA 6. What was once promised for fall 2025 is now officially delayed to May 2026. The decision was quietly made ahead of the company’s full fiscal report, though it wasn’t publicly confirmed until May 2.

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s CEO, said to Variety that the delay wasn’t a last-minute move, but didn’t share exactly when Rockstar decided to shift dates.

“So we don’t talk about when we make decisions around here,” Zelnick told Variety. “Obviously, the net bookings that are expected for Fiscal ’26 are lower without the release of GTA 6, that goes without saying.”

That’s one of the more direct admissions we’ve gotten from Zelnick about how critical GTA 6 sales are to the company’s bottom line. He followed it up with this:

“We’re setting a record, which is what we said we would do. We certainly expect growth in Fiscal ’27. This company is in extraordinarily sound shape and well positioned both for the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

We can't be sure about the exact release date anyway. As the influential source stated, May 2026 is not a guarantee, since Rockstar delays usually come in pairs. Will it be like that this time? Probably.

Wall Street Wasn't Impressed

Investors didn’t exactly celebrate the announcement. After-hours trading saw Take-Two shares drop nearly 3%. Wall Street was already bracing for a mild loss per share and $1.55 billion in revenue for the January–March period. Instead, the company reported $1.58 billion in net bookings and a net loss of $3.78 billion, or $21.08 per share.

A massive part of that was a $3.55 billion writedown, though Take-Two didn’t specify which division took the hit. When asked, the company declined to comment.

For fiscal 2025 overall, Take-Two recorded $5.65 billion in net bookings. For the next year, fiscal 2026, it’s projecting between $5.9 billion and $6 billion. That projection reflects the missing boost that GTA 6 sales would have offered if the game had hit its original launch window.

GTA 6 Pricing

Rising game prices are inevitable. Previously, Shuhei Yoshida, former PlayStation boss and 38-year Sony veteran, said that GTA 6 will likely cost $80-90, even though this is risky. He also explains Nintendo's role in this.

Another lingering question is whether the GTA 6 price tag will reflect the rising cost of AAA game development. With some competitors floating price hikes and variable pricing models, it’s easy to imagine Take-Two following suit.

But Zelnick doesn’t sound eager to jump on that train:

“Some of our competitors have talked about higher prices and variable pricing. The rubric that informs our decision making is that we need and want to deliver way more value than whatever we charge consumers.”

He emphasised that pricing decisions aren’t just about profit—they’re about perception. If you’re spending $70 (or more), the experience has to feel worth it. That means premium gameplay, polish, and length. Rockstar has hit that bar before, but with GTA 6, expectations are higher than ever.

The $1 billion stock sale might seem like a routine financial manoeuvre, but timing matters. It comes just after a brutal earnings call and a major delay for the company’s most lucrative franchise. While Take-Two is positioning this as a forward-looking move to strengthen the business and invest in future projects, it also suggests they’re padding cash reserves to stay stable through a year without GTA 6 sales.

Between Zynga, 2K, and Rockstar, the publisher has multiple revenue streams, but none come close to matching the potential of Grand Theft Auto. It’s not hard to see why they’d want to raise extra funds now.

All eyes are on May 2026. The delay means that fiscal 2027 (April 2026–March 2027) is now the window when GTA 6 will dominate earnings, and that’s exactly what Zelnick is signalling. Analysts are already projecting it to break sales records, possibly topping GTA 5, which moved over 190 million units.

Until then, Take-Two will have to ride out a slow year. The company says it’s in “extraordinarily sound shape,” but the numbers tell a more complicated story:

• A historic $3.78 billion loss
• A $1 billion stock sale
• And a two-year wait for the game everyone’s been expecting since 2013.

If GTA 6 delivers, none of this turbulence will matter. But if it doesn’t? That’s another story.