Take-Two: GTA VI pre-orders off to an "exceptional" start, Zelnick talks discs
Take-Two's first-quarter results say GTA VI pre-orders have started exceptionally well, without giving numbers. On the earnings call, Strauss Zelnick said discs often "don't really make sense" for big games.
Take-Two Interactive said today that Grand Theft Auto VI has had an exceptional start to pre-orders. The line appears in the company's results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, published on August 7, 2026. Take-Two gave no pre-order numbers and no figure for pre-order revenue.
"global excitement for the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI continues to build, with the title having an exceptional start to preorders."
The quarter itself came in at $1.39 billion in Net Bookings, slightly above the range Take-Two had guided. The company updated its outlook for the full fiscal year and kept its expectation of $8.0 to $8.2 billion in Net Bookings.
Insider Gaming describes the roughly $8 billion target as 20% growth over the previous year and reports that Rockstar is expected to make up around 37% of that revenue. Both percentages come from Insider Gaming's reporting. We have not seen them in the text of Take-Two's own release.
Physical copies came up on the earnings call. An investor asked about Sony's decision to end disc production, and GamesRadar reports that PlayStation discs for new games won't be available beyond January 2028. CEO Strauss Zelnick declined to comment on Sony's move directly, but said Take-Two's business is "well over 90% digitally distributed" and that for a big game, discs "don't really make sense for the consumer." His reasoning: "in most instances you have to register online to play anyhow. So if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally?"
He did not rule out physical releases. "That doesn't mean that we won't have physical editions now and then. I'm sure we will in the same way that there's still vinyl in the recorded music business," Zelnick said. Collectors can decide for themselves whether the vinyl comparison is meant as reassurance. For GTA VI the question is partly settled already: as GamesRadar notes, Rockstar has announced that boxed versions will essentially be a code in a box at launch.
Next on the calendar is the recently announced extended look at GTA VI, which Insider Gaming says will be exclusive to Netflix for six hours later this month.
