- Take-Two's CEO said in an earnings call Thursday that the delay of "GTA 6" is a "worthy investment."
- The delay led to an initial 8% drop in Take-Two's stock. Shares fell again on Thursday.
- Take-Two said it remains optimistic, citing coming releases like 'Borderlands 4.'
The company behind "Grand Theft Auto 6" tried to spin the game's delayed release as a good thing during an earnings call on Thursday.
"I believe affording Rockstar additional time for such a groundbreaking project is a worthy investment," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said.
Zelnick went so far as to call the crime-filled video game the "most anticipated entertainment property of all time."
Wall Street doesn't seem to be buying it, however.
Rockstar Games, which produces the "Grand Theft Auto" series, announced on May 2 that the game's release would be delayed until 2026. The announcement sent shares of Take-Two, Rockstar's parent company, tumbling by more than 8%.
Take-Two's stock dipped again on Thursday ahead of the company's earnings call. The company's forecast fell short of expectations, largely due to the delay of "GTA VI."
Zelnick said the "ambition and complexity" of "Grand Theft Auto 6" is greater than any other game Rockstar has created. "The team is poised to release another astonishing entertainment experience that will exceed players' expectations," he said.
Zelnick said the "Grand Theft Auto" series has been "the standard bearer, not just for our company, but for the industry, since it was launched."
"We, of course, do market research around here, and the market research that we've done is pretty astonishing," Zelnick said on the call. "But look, we're not in the business of claiming success until it happens. All we're focused on is making the best possible entertainment here. That's our job. The rest will take care of itself."
Despite the game's delay, Take-Two executives said they expected the company's year to be successful ultimately, pointing to other coming releases like "Borderlands 4" and "Mafia: The Old Country."
