GTA 6 Caused Some Gamers to Hold Off on Buying New Games — Including Take-Two's Own NBA 2K27, Strauss Zelnick Says

The behemoth that is GTA 6 looms large over the video game industry, and it’s so big that it not only caused the September crush of releases, but caused some gamers to hold off on buying new games.

Reporting its latest financial results, Take-Two, parent company of GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games, said that its own NBA 2K27 had sold 4 million units, which was “below our forecast for the period.”

Take-Two, which owns both 2K and NBA developer Visual Concepts, said that the NBA 2K27 launch window was “unusually busy, with numerous entertainment experiences competing for players’ attention.” In an accompanying interview with IGN, Zelnick expanded on the point, adding that he felt that GTA 6 had an impact also.

“I think the key point is that while below our forecast, NBA 2K27 is our second best release of NBA 2K in history. It’s an immensely successful title. It sold 4 million units. And in launching more content than ever before for the rest of the year, we have expectations that the title will do even better than it already has done,” Zelnick began.

“I do think that this timing may have affected performance so far. It has been a crowded period, and we do think that GTA 6 coming has had an influence on the consumer. That said, we’re thrilled with how NBA 2K27 is performing.”

GTA 6 is credited with forcing developers and publishers to either bring their releases forward or move them back in an effort to avoid November. The likes of The Blood of Dawn Walker, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Marvel’s Wolverine, Control Resonant and others all launched up against each other in September. NBA 2K27 was officially released globally on September 4, 2026.

Based on Zelnick’s comments, GTA 6 won’t just have affected NBA 2K27 sales, but caused some gamers to skip other games in favor of Rockstar’s next, which comes out November 19. It is expected to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, setting sales and revenue records, so Take-Two will of course be fine for some time to come. Other publishers and developers, though, might be left struggling.

For now, though, during the quarter Take-Two saw revenue of $1.6 billion, which was slightly below its guidance range of $1.62-$1.67 billion. The company said fiscal 2027 will be “an historic year for Take-Two – driven by our unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality entertainment experiences.” It reiterated our Fiscal 2027 outlook for revenue of $8-$8.2 billion.