TIGGEEK · GTA 6 · NEWS

Take-Two slightly misses Q2 bookings and holds its $8.0–8.2B outlook

Take-Two reported fiscal Q2 net bookings of $1.60 billion, slightly below guidance, and reiterated fiscal 2027 net bookings of $8.0–8.2 billion. It guided to $3.35–3.5 billion in the quarter that includes the GTA 6 launch.

TIGGEEK Newsroom · · 3 min read

Take-Two Interactive reported fiscal second-quarter net bookings of $1.60 billion, slightly below its guidance range of $1.62 billion to $1.67 billion, and reiterated its fiscal 2027 net bookings outlook of $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion. The company also issued initial third-quarter guidance of $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion in net bookings, covering the period that includes the November 19 launch of Grand Theft Auto VI.

Those figures come from Take-Two's official results release and from prepared remarks on the earnings call, as published in a Motley Fool transcript and in the company's slide deck.

The quarter, in Take-Two's numbers

Net bookings of $1.60 billion were down 18 percent from $1.96 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, the company said. Recurrent consumer spending accounted for 81 percent of bookings and declined 9 percent, compared with guidance of a 5 percent decline.

Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said on the call that NBA 2K27 "launched successfully and achieved the second highest net bookings performance in the history of the series," but "was below our forecast for the period." The mobile business, he said, performed in line with plans, and "the Grand Theft Auto series exceeded our forecast" ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI.

Take-Two did not, in the official materials reviewed here, use the word cannibalization. GamesBeat later wrote that the bookings miss was "partly because there was a crowded slate of games launched in September to avoid the GTA VI window." That is GamesBeat's account, not a direct quote from Take-Two.

What executives said about GTA 6 pre-orders

Zelnick said pre-orders "are tracking far in excess of our initial expectations." The company's slide deck uses similar language: pre-orders "are tracking far above our initial expectations." In the official release, he also said pre-orders were "continuing to reach unprecedented levels," and that the company expects to "deliver an historic year." Those are Take-Two's words, not an independent ranking.

CFO Lainie Goldstein has described the pre-order level as "extraordinary," according to GamesBeat's report on the call. Executives also said the launch is on track and that Rockstar has finished the game. Zelnick, in the transcript, was careful not to claim success before release.

Take-Two is not publishing an official pre-order dollar total in these materials. Third-party estimates, including a Sensor Tower figure reported by the Washington Post, are covered separately in our [earlier report](/blog/gta-6-preorders-sensor-tower-1-billion). GamesBeat inferred a Grand Theft Auto VI contribution inside the third-quarter range; that inference is not an official company forecast, and this article is not repeating it as one.

On the call, Zelnick said Grand Theft Auto V "has sold nearly 235 million units worldwide." GamesBeat reported that the Netflix "GTA VI: An Extended Look" special drew more than 31 million viewers in its first four days; treat that viewer figure as GamesBeat's reporting.

The third-quarter outlook

The official outlook for the quarter ending December 31, 2026, is $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion in net bookings. The Motley Fool transcript has Goldstein comparing that with $1.76 billion in the prior-year quarter. The company also projects recurrent consumer spending to increase by about 12 percent in the quarter, assuming significant growth for the Grand Theft Auto series, including sales of the Ultimate Edition, plus growth for NBA 2K and a decline in mobile.

Take-Two's fiscal year ends March 31, 2027. The reiterated $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion net bookings range is a company outlook, not a completed result.

GTA VI: The Festival is still scheduled for November 21 in Miami. Ticket details are in our [earlier festival report](/blog/gta-6-the-festival-tickets-miami).

The takeaway

Take-Two slightly missed its second-quarter net bookings range, held its full-year outlook, and guided to $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion in the quarter that includes launch. The company says Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders are running far above its initial expectations, and that NBA 2K27, while the series' second-best bookings result, came in below forecast. Those are Take-Two's figures and claims, one week before the game is scheduled to unlock.

Cover image: The New York Stock Exchange on Broad Street, photographed by Arild Vågen in August 2017. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The photo is a street view of the exchange, not Take-Two's offices or official Grand Theft Auto VI artwork.

Key facts

Q2 net bookings
$1.60 billion, slightly below guidance of $1.62–$1.67 billion, per Take-Two
FY27 outlook
Reiterated at $8.0–$8.2 billion in net bookings
Q3 outlook
$3.35–$3.5 billion in net bookings for the quarter ending Dec 31, 2026
GTA 6 pre-orders
"Far in excess of our initial expectations," Zelnick said
NBA 2K27
Second-highest series bookings, but below Take-Two's forecast

Sources