Brutal: The delay of GTA 6 would have cost Rockstar more than $3,200 million, about $17 million per day

According to analysts, Take-Two assumes a huge stock loss to ensure the quality of the release.

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The recent delay of GTA 6 has not only sparked reactions among fans, but also had a significant economic impact. According to analyst Aakash Gupta, the decision to delay the release by six months would have resulted in a loss of over $3.2 billion in market capitalization for Take-Two Interactive.

Gupta highlights that this loss is equivalent to paying around $17 million per day of delay, a staggering figure even for a company the size of Rockstar Games. However, the strategy makes sense: it’s about investing in quality, avoiding the release of a product that could put a brand that has been built over 15 years at risk, consolidating itself as one of the most valuable in the industry.

Rockstar prioritizes quality over schedule

The analyst sums it up clearly: Rockstar is not optimizing its calendar or “time-to-market”, but the quality of the release. In his model, a GTA 6 with errors or negative reception would not only affect initial sales, but could also destroy the value of the entire franchise and harm its long-term content plan.

Every AAA publisher is looking at this and thinking: ‘We can’t afford to do that’. Rockstar can. And that difference is only growing,” concludes Gupta in his analysis.

The delay of GTA 6 to November 2026 has been one of the most talked-about news of the year, and although the short-term cost is enormous, everything suggests that Rockstar prefers to lose money now rather than compromise the reputation of its star franchise.