The first time I played Grand Theft Auto, I had to play in secret. This game is rated Mature due to violence, so I played it when no one was looking. (Sorry, Mom!)
On Thursday, November 19, 2026, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto VI, and this time the sneak peek is for adults. According to the International Business Times, as many as 1.5 million Americans may be absent that day. The cost of lost output is estimated to be approximately US$1 billion.
Also read: GameStop makes surprising PS5 Pro pricing changes ahead of GTA 6 launch
The bosses lost, and Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) collected the money. According to Insider Gaming, pre-orders tracked by Sensor Tower have generated approximately $630 million in revenue.
Red Dead Redemption 2 sets a new standard for GTA 6
I’ve played every Grand Theft Auto game since and pretty much every other Rockstar game. The one I keep thinking about is the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Friday, October 26, 2018.
Eight years later, its world is still more vibrant than most new games. Your horse learns to trust you, your beard grows, and the wolf hunts deer whether you’re watching or not.
This is the hurdle that GTA 6 must overcome when players return to modern-day Vice City. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that it is almost certainly The most expensive video game ever. Analysts he cited expect revenue in the first four months to exceed $3 billion.
Fans pay $99.99 for game they haven’t played
According to Quartz, pre-orders begin on Thursday, June 25, 2026, with the Standard Edition priced at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99. As of mid-August, about 89% of pre-orders were for the pricier version, according to Sensor Tower data reported by TechRadar.
Sensor Tower’s Karl Kontus said he had “never seen a 90% premium share before.” The $79.99 base price makes $99.99 feel like a small upgrade rather than a $100 purchase, a strategy the retailer calls price anchoring.
The premium mix seems unchanged. According to Sensor Tower’s October statistics of 6.45 million bookings, the average revenue per booking was approximately $98.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick called the game “incredibly affordable for the experience,” according to a transcript of the earnings call.
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$1 billion in sick leave is more precarious than it sounds
The paper trail behind the title figures is thin. The first IBT report linked it to José García Montalvo, an economics professor at the University of Pompeu Fabra. A second IBT report said he was not to blame for the 1.5 million figure, and there was no national research to support that claim.
The reported inputs also don’t add up. The first report stated that annual output per worker was approximately $70,000. Over approximately 260 workdays, 1.5 million absences would cost nearly $400 million.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some employees are saving paid time off for the launch. Planned days off don’t have the same impact on productivity as a holiday that no one printed on the calendar.
According to GamesRadar, following Rockstar’s second delay, r/GTA6 users on Reddit joked that they would have health insurance at launch. Thirteen years of waiting brought the product launch closer to a global event.
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Wall Street Still Pricing Take-Two Cautiously
According to StockAnalysis data, Take-Two’s market capitalization is close to $38.9 billion, a decrease of approximately 19% from last year. The stock traded closer to its 52-week low of $187.63 than its high of $265.94.
In August, Take-Two maintained its full-year net bookings, game and content sales value forecast at $8 billion to $8.2 billion. Analysts had expected $8.86 billion, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Take-Two is rated by 29 analysts tracked by StockAnalysis Strong Buywith an average 12-month target of $286.44. Reaching this target would increase Take-Two’s market capitalization to approx. $53.6 billionroughly $15 billion higher than today’s levels.
Sony Group Corporation (SONY) also holds shares. about 74% According to Insider Gaming, 10% of tracking pre-orders are on PlayStation 5, so most players will start playing on Sony’s console.
What happens next:
- The final earnings report ahead of the release will be Monday, November 9, 2026, according to StockAnalysis.
- According to Variety , boxed copies will arrive in stores on Thursday, November 12, 2026 for preloading, but will include a download code instead of a disc.
- According to Bloomberg, GTA 6 will be launched as a single-player game and an online mode is expected to be launched in 2027. GTA V also launched in 2013 without GTA Online, and today’s version still brings in about $500 million in revenue annually.
- According to Forbes, the PC version is expected to be launched in 2027.
Meanwhile, Forbes’ Paul Tassi wrote on Monday, October 19, 2026, that AI coding tools now allow players to rewrite games. He believes Rockstar may lose control of some parts of GTA 6.
His example hits home. A new fan mod adds a full revenge system to Red Dead Redemption 2, where characters can remember places where Arthur Morgan hurt them.
Tasi pointed out that mods have kept GTA V alive for many years. Faster mods could extend the life of GTA 6 on PC, or give players something for free that Rockstar would rather sell.
This long tail is where Take-Two makes its money. The company said in August that GTA V had sold more than 230 million copies. According to its financial report, recurring expenses (that is, fees that players continue to pay after the game is launched) accounted for 84% of net bookings last quarter.
Nov. 19 will show how many people have canceled their jobs. An online release in 2027 will show how long they stick around, which will determine Take-Two’s value.
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