Wall Street isn’t too pleased with GTA 6’s performance in the past week. The stock of Rockstar’s parent company has taken fair hit this week and there are a few reasons why according to those within the investing world. We’ll be taking a look at the shareholder concerns.
Last week saw the triumphant gameplay reveal of Grand Theft Auto VI. This was the truly big moment of marketing before the game’s release on November 19th. Rockstar showed off nearly half an hour’s worth of footage straight from the player’s perspective captured on PS5. Fans were extremely delighted with what they saw as it delivered but also exceeded on their expectations. Netflix revealed on Wednesday that the Grand Theft Auto VI Extended Look was the most watched English film on the streaming service last week. It also led to a huge surge in viewers the moment that it went live.
You’d think with all of these positive metrics and sentiment Wall Street would be thrilled as we race towards launch day. However, that is not the case. When the market opened on Monday, Take-Two’s share price dropped from around $235 to $218. It was around an 8% drop. Since Monday, it has dropped a bit more. The stock is the lowest it has been since before pre-orders were announced. Why is this? Let’s break everything down.
Lacklustre Pre-Order Growth
According to data firm M Science published their findings from the Extended Look on Monday and investors reacted to their report. They estimate the Extended Look probably earned Rockstar “couple hundred thousand units, globally, in the first few days following the extended look release on Netflix” via PC Gamer.
Investors on social media said that the gameplay video “did not meaningfully accelerate pre-orders.” M Science also estimate the game had more than 4 million pre-orders prior to the Extended Look. It seems like investors forgot most people so far have placed an order for the $100 Ultimate Edition and lots of pre-orders come in during the final week. Some are even comparing this pre-order phase to GTA V’s and forget the previous entry in the series was a largely physical release. Times have changed.
Quick To Fear
More insanity from the investing world appeared due to an opinion piece. One Forbes writer purely speculated that the GTA Online component for this game won’t release for quite some time and will be its own standalone title. This was just like any fan putting out any idea or speculation. It held no merit. Investors took to social media to argue why this post should not matter.
Despite this, some shareholders reacted as they treated it as some kind of report. Is there a lack of reading comprehension skills now? It is entirely possible Rockstar decide GTA Online for VI is a standalone, $70 title later next year but there’s no solid evidence yet. Even so, it will be a huge success and make billions. No one should be worrying. Based on what we’ve had shareholders say before, they care more about GTA Online monetisation than GTA VI sales. They are betting on GTA Online 2 being bigger than the last but now their confidence in it is lower.
Leaks Causing More Trouble
Another reason that has spooked those investing in TTWO are the recent GTA VI gameplay leaks. Some on Wall Street have expressed their concern over the leaker having access to the full game. There is even a worry among them that the leaks will lead to GTA VI being delayed. Nonsense. Since the Extended Look dropped any interest in the leaks has vanished. Take-Two are now closing in on their wanted target.
All this is to say lots of people with lots of money don’t quite understand how the thing they’re investing in works. We’ll probably get a spike in share price soon for yet another record breaking metric achieved by GTA VI alone. This is also a tale of how not to jump to conclusions. Unless Rockstar somehow release an unplayable game, GTA VI is looking to be in a great place on November 19th.
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