Take-Two Interactive's (NASDAQ: TTWO) stock tumbled after the announcement of Grand Theft Auto V's release date (September 17, 2013) yesterday. The stock dipped by -6.81%, closing at 12.17 on January 31.
Investors and analysts alike had originally pegged the game's release for May, with the belief that the publisher would announce its release date on February 5, when the earnings conference call is set to take place.
With few other games aside from BioShock Infinite on the release calendar this Spring, Take-Two Interactive's investors were clearly banking on the success of Grand Theft Auto V to bring in some much needed revenue to the company. Rockstar's titles have, in the past, served as the publisher's biggest profit-makers.
A screencap of Take-Two's listing on NADAQ shows just how hard the company was hit by the announcement of the game's delay. I suspect that had the game been announced for release in May, the stocks would be looking quite differently.
The valuations for other publishers, including EA and Activision, do not appear to have been affected by the GTA V release date announcement.
Apart, from the sudden change in stock prices, fans of the game are also very dissapointed by the delay as they feel they were tricked into pre-ordering the game at least a year in advance when the Spring, 2013 release was announced last year.
