Wall Street piles into Take-Two on GTA 6 pre-order day

Pre-order day for Grand Theft Auto VI doubled as a banner day on Wall Street, with several research desks rushing out fresh notes on Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), the publisher behind Rockstar Games. The loudest call came from Bank of America, which lifted its price target to a street-high $368, up from $320, per TheStreet. The thesis is not the box price of the game. It is what happens after launch: BofA modeled GTA Online generating roughly $2.2 billion in fiscal 2028 bookings, a jump of about $900 million, on the bet that the next online world monetizes at close to twice the rate of its predecessor through a pay to progress structure rather than cosmetics alone.

The bullishness was not isolated. BTIG initiated coverage at Buy with a $290 target on June 24, a call CNBC also reported, framing GTA 6 as the catalyst for a multi-year step up in Take-Two's earnings power. Jefferies analyst James Heaney reiterated Buy with a $300 target, per Proactive Investors and Intellectia, casting pre-order day as the stock catalyst long-term holders had been waiting for. Stocktwits and Seeking Alpha noted TTWO shares jumped around 5 percent into the event after pricing and the June 25 pre-order date were confirmed.

The number that traveled fastest online was not from a bank at all. Tom Henderson, a well-known industry analyst, argued on his podcast that GTA 6 could clear $1 billion in pre-orders within the first hour, estimating 12 to 14 million copies in 60 minutes. For context, he framed Grand Theft Auto V taking three days to reach $1 billion back in 2013. The figure spread widely online, but it is one analyst's back of the envelope projection, not a measured result and not anything Rockstar or Take-Two has confirmed.

The distinction that matters for readers is simple. Everything above is analyst opinion and modeling, not company guidance. Take-Two has confirmed the launch date of November 19, 2026, the June 25 pre-order open, and US pricing of $79.99 Standard and $99.99 Ultimate with a free Vintage Vice City Pack. It has not put a dollar figure on pre-orders, online spending, or first-week sales. Price targets are where analysts think the stock could trade over roughly a year, and they routinely disagree: the same morning produced $290, $300 and $368, a spread that itself signals genuine uncertainty about how the post-launch economy plays out.

The common thread across all three banks is that the real money story is recurrent consumer spending, the industry's term for ongoing in-game purchases, not the one-time sale of the disc. GTA Online has printed cash for more than a decade off GTA V, and the bet is that a bigger, more populated online world repeats and extends that. That is a credible thesis with a real track record behind it. It is also a forecast about player behavior in a game nobody outside Rockstar has played, which is exactly why the targets vary and why none of this should be read as a guarantee.

None of this is financial advice, and gta6times.com does not give any. We cover GTA 6 because the game is a cultural event, and Wall Street's reaction is part of that story, not a stock tip. If you are weighing a pre-order, the only confirmed facts you need are the price, the editions, the bonus pack and the dates. The billion-dollar headlines are analysts reading the same tea leaves you are, just with a Bloomberg terminal open.