The new trailer for GTA VI has impressed Wall Street. How will this affect Take-Two's stock?

Rockstar Games, the publisher of the iconic Grand Theft Auto series, released a new trailer for the long-awaited sixth installment of the franchise, which boosted the stock price of its parent company, Take-Two. At the peak of trading on August 28, the stock rose 2.6%, though it ended the day up just 1%. Wall Street analysts praised the trailer and believe it will further fuel interest in the game, which could sell 45 million copies in its first day of release.

The 26-minute trailer premiered exclusively on Netflix on Thursday and later appeared on YouTube, where it garnered 9 million views.

The trailer showcases gameplay on the PlayStation 5: for the first time, Rockstar has shown actual mission footage rather than cutscenes, TechRadar notes. Judging by the video, the game now offers more opportunities to interact with the surrounding world: players can choose their dialogue options when talking to other characters, similar to Red Dead Redemption 2, the publication writes. Carjacking in Vice City has become more challenging: the video shows at least two ways to get into a parked car. The number of wanted levels for the player character has also increased.

On Friday morning, Google users' interest in GTA VI surged by 200%—the number of search queries exceeded 200,000, according to Barron's.

Pre-orders for the sixth installment of the game opened on June 25, and the release—which has been postponed twice—is scheduled for November 19. Development of GTA VI has been underway for more than ten years, and the project’s budget, including marketing expenses, could exceed $1 billion, according to Business Insider.

JPMorgan analyst Brian Smaile believes that the new GTA VI trailer will further fuel interest in the game, according to Barron’s. He says that leveraging Netflix’s “huge reach and subscriber base” could help boost pre-order numbers. The analyst reaffirmed his “buy” rating on Take-Two shares and a price target of $310, which implies 32% upside potential relative to the August 28 closing price.

Morgan Stanley analyst Matt Kost also expects the buzz surrounding the franchise to drive further stock gains. According to Kost, major game releases have historically attracted investor attention, especially during the last three to six months of the marketing campaign leading up to launch. He noted that in the three months leading up to the launch of four previous projects of similar scale, game publishers’ stock prices rose by about 13%.

GTA VI is the series' first update in more than 12 years. It could become one of the biggest entertainment releases of all time, wrote Piper Sandler analyst James Callahan in early June. According to his forecast, sales of the new installment will reach 45 million copies in the first 24 hours.

Wall Street is very bullish on Take-Two shares: 30 out of 32 analysts tracking the stock recommend buying it, according to MarketWatch. The average price target is $294, which is nearly 27% higher than the closing price on August 28.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor