Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon, today is Monday, December 30th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. Our top story so far.

The video game sector could be dominated next year by the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 by Take 2 Interactive

and Rockstar Games. Consumer interest is reported to be sky high for the latest GTA, which is expected

to be released in the fall of 2025. Analysts predict GTA 6 could sell 38 million copies in its

first 12 months. At a price point of $6999 per copy, that would generate about $2.7 billion

in sales. Including potential online mode revenues, GTA6's total first-year revenue, could

easily approach $3 billion. But CEO Strauss-Lennik told the F.T. I never claim victory

before it occurs. Grand Theft Auto 6, which Take 2 interactive plans to release on Sony's PlayStation and

Microsoft's Xbox consoles, is forecast to top $1 million in pre-orders before it even becomes

available.

Across the video game industry, many publishers are hesitant to commit to fall 2025 release

dates for their own games, fearing competition with GTA6.

While Rockstar and Take 2 have officially announced a fall 2025 release window for GTA6,

there is speculation about a potential delay.

Some industry analysts believe Rockstar may push the release into 2026, given their history

of delays and the massive scale of the project.

On Wall Street, Bank of America analyst Omar Dusuki thinks a positive development for Take

2 investors and GTA6 fans would be more information about the mega title via a full trailer

and potentially more marketing communication about the game.

Take2 Interactive has averaged a 30% gain in the year ahead of a GTA release.

Shares are up about 20% since the start of September.

...