GTA 6 Preorders Beat Forecasts While NBA 2K27 Sales Fall Short

Take-Two Interactive says GTA 6 preorders are "tracking far in excess of our initial expectations," ten days before Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19, 2026. The publisher shared the update with its fiscal second quarter results on November 9, but it did not give a single preorder number.

The same report shows the other side of a GTA year. NBA 2K27 sold more than 4 million copies and still missed Take-Two's forecast, and CEO Strauss Zelnick believes GTA 6 itself is part of the reason.

How strong are GTA 6 preorders?

Strong enough for Take-Two to use very big words. In the official earnings release, Zelnick said, "The launch of Grand Theft Auto VI is ten days away and, with pre-orders continuing to reach unprecedented levels, we expect to deliver an historic year for our company."

On the earnings call he added that "the numbers will speak for themselves soon enough." That is a polite way of saying the real figures come after launch. GTA VI arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and Take-Two's lineup table still lists no PC version. If you have not set up your console yet, our GTA 6 preload guide covers start times and the 212GB download.

Why did NBA 2K27 miss its forecast?

NBA 2K27 came out on September 4 and posted the second best net bookings in the series' history. Net bookings is Take-Two's main sales measure: everything it sold digitally or shipped to stores in the period. Even so, the game landed below the company's own target.

Zelnick told IGN, in comments reported by Kotaku, "It has been a crowded period, and we do think that GTA 6 coming has had an influence on the consumer." In other words, some players may be saving their money for Vice City. He was relaxed about it with Bloomberg: "If your lunch is going to be eaten, I'd rather be the one eating it." President Karl Slatoff was more careful on the call, saying "it's really hard to know exactly" why the game fell short.

What do Take-Two's numbers look like?

The quarter ended on September 30, so it contains no GTA VI sales at all. Recurrent consumer spending, meaning money players spend inside games they already own (virtual currency, add-ons and in-game purchases), fell 9%. Take-Two had guided for a 5% drop.

Metric	Q2 FY2027	Q2 FY2026
Net bookings	$1.60 billion	$1.96 billion
Change	18% lower
GAAP net revenue	$1.50 billion	$1.77 billion
GAAP net loss	$54.0 million	$133.9 million
Recurrent spending share	81%	73%

Net bookings also missed Take-Two's own range of $1.62 billion to $1.67 billion, and Bloomberg says Wall Street expected about $1.65 billion. The full year outlook of $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion stayed the same, and the October to December quarter alone is guided at $3.35 billion to $3.50 billion. GamesIndustry.biz notes that operating costs should rise about 21% in that quarter, mostly because of GTA 6 marketing.

What does this mean for GTA 6 players?

Mostly, it suggests November 19 is holding. Take-Two repeated its $8 billion forecast and its launch date ten days out, with no hint of another delay. Rockstar's older game is still a giant too: GTA V has sold nearly 235 million copies, and the GTA+ membership grew by double digits last quarter.

Expect heavy server traffic and a crowded launch week, much like the pressure Sony pointed to when it discussed falling PS5 sales ahead of GTA 6. PS5 Pro owners also have something to look forward to, since a datamine points to a 120Hz mode for GTA 6.

Our take

A publisher calling its own preorders "unprecedented" is not proof, so the real test is the first sales figure after launch. Still, the NBA 2K27 miss tells us something useful: GTA 6 is pulling money out of gamers' wallets before it even ships. For Take-Two, a weak quarter is the price of one of the biggest game launches ever, and it looks happy to pay it.