Grand Theft Auto 6 isn’t just another run-of-the-mill video game.
For anyone familiar with the product, it has all the potential to become a once-in-a-generation event for its parent company, Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) .
CEO Strauss Zelnick fittingly calls it “the most anticipated entertainment property of all time.”
Analysts expect GTA 6 to sell tens of millions of copies, generating over $3 billion in its first year, which would set it up as the most lucrative entertainment launch in history.
Unsurprisingly, that optimism has already moved markets.
For instance, when Take-Two reiterated GTA 6’s 2025 launch window during its February 2025 earnings call, shares surged 14% in a single day, reaching a record high of $213 at the time.
Here’s what’s fueling Grand Theft Auto 6’s hype:
- In-game fidelity: Trailer 2 was captured entirely in-game on the Sony PlayStation 5, showcasing extensive ray-traced lighting and reflections that highlight the never-before-seen, cutting-edge rendering capabilities.
- Scale, density, variety: The game spans the fictional state of Leonida (Vice City + biomes), showing off unprecedented NPCs, vehicles, and environmental detail.
- Physics and material realism: Early reads point to a myriad of new animations, cloth physics, and real-time lighting.
Amid all this record-scale hype, Jim Cramer just weighed in with a sharp, disciplined take on GTA 6 and Take-Two’s soaring stock, cutting through the buzz and raising real questions for investors.
Image source: Delmas/Getty Images
Jim Cramer says GTA 6 could be more than just a game for Take-Two
Jim Cramer thinks the market is underestimating the impact of GTA 6 when it lands next May.
On “Mad Money,” he called it one of the biggest franchises of all time in all forms of media, telling investors that the focus on GTA 6 is justified.
More Tech Stocks:
- Musk’s Netflix boycott could actually hurt the streamer
- OpenAI’s deal with AMD proves AI race has just begun
- Goldman Sachs tweaks Nvidia’s stock price target with a twist
- The stock market laughed, then Palantir redefined the fight
Everybody is focused on GTA 6, and for good reason, Cramer said. This is one of the biggest franchises of all time.
Take-Two Interactive, the publisher behind Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and NBA 2K, has already seen its stock jump north of 40% year-to-date, and Cramer argues that the momentum isn’t just hype.
The company’s last quarter saw it posting $1.4 billion in net bookings, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s forecast, while raising full-year guidance for both bookings and EBITDA.
Related: Cathie Wood pours millions into a 26-year-old tech giant
Cramer also pointed out that the NBA 2K26 and Borderlands 4 games are delivering real numbers. NBA 2K26 daily users are up a stellar 30% year over year and recurrent spending is up 48%, giving Take-Two a superb stream of cash flow before GTA 6 hits.
Even now, eight months before the next Grand Theft Auto comes out, I’m feeling really positive on Take-Two, Cramer said. If you bought this stock eight months before the last Grand Theft Auto in 2013 … you doubled your money in two years.
With Electronic Arts now going private and Activision absorbed by Microsoft, Cramer feels that Take-Two is perhaps the last pure-play U.S. gaming stock out there.
GTA 6 could deliver Take-Two’s biggest financial surge
Wall Street has seen gaming hype in the past, but none comes close to the lofty expectations of GTA 6.
For Take-Two Interactive, the upcoming release isn’t just a headline; it’s a full-scale multi-year financial catalyst.
For perspective, the stock has already skyrocketed nearly 71% over the past year and 41% year-to-date, hitting all-time highs near $262 per share.
Related: Walmart turns to Google to solve longtime customer headache
Analysts forecast a dramatic jump in earnings once GTA 6 lands.
Consensus projections call for Take-Two’s earnings per share (EPS) to surge from roughly $1.40 in FY2026 to $7.50 in FY2027, and then rise to $8.60 in FY2028, as game sales and in-game spending start flowing in.
The company’s management’s own forecast points to roughly $6.15 billion in net bookings for the fiscal year linked to its launch, a figure that marks a massive “step change” and its biggest inflection since GTA 5 hit shelves in 2013.
It’s worth noting that it won’t be just a one-year event.
Take-Two expects sequential net bookings growth through FY2027, suggesting that GTA 6 could potentially stretch across several years.
The precedent is clear that GTA 5 sold nearly 200 million copies over the past decade, surprisingly generating about $1 billion annually in its eighth and ninth years.
Analysts now see GTA 6 selling 100 million copies within five years, backed by a new GTA 6 Online platform that keeps recurring sales humming long after launch day.
Quick Takeaways
- Take-Two’s stock has surged 71% in a year and 41% YTD.
- Analysts expect EPS to jump from $1.4 in FY2026 to $7.5 in FY2027 and $8.6 in FY2028 following GTA 6’s release.
- Management is targeting approximately $6 billion in net bookings for the launch year, with growth expected to continue through FY2027.
- GTA 6 could sell 100 million copies within five years, mirroring GTA 5’s decadelong, $1 billion-a-year run.
Related: CoreWeave’s quiet AI deal hints at a much bigger play
#Veteran #analyst #drops #sharp #GTA #hype