Jeff Grub with VentureBeat first spotted this little nugget.
Way down on page 77, Take-Two outlines its future commitments leading up to 2025 because, as the report says, the company contracts minimum obligations for things like product marketing expenditures several years in advance. Under the marketing obligations column, Take-Two shows it expects a gradual spending increase each fiscal year, going from roughly $11 million next year up to roughly $40 million in 2023. That more than doubles for 2024, though, with Take-Two listing its marketing investment as $89,260,000.
According to Jeff Cohen, an analyst with an investment firm advising stockholders, this could be because a major game, like Grand Theft Auto 6, is set to release in that fiscal year. It obviously depends on things like delays and development, though we do know Grand Theft Auto 6’s development is well underway.
Grubb notes a Grand Theft Auto 6 release window of 2024 makes sense. He says GTA 5 is still too popular — popular enough to break the Epic Games Store — and both Rockstar and Take-Two would want to wait until next-gen technology is better developed.
It’s pretty difficult to see what else such a huge marketing spike could relate to. Software development spending for third-party developers working with Take-Two doesn’t increase that much, according to the same chart. So unless Take-Two plans on releasing all 95 of its planned third-party games in 2024, it must point to something else.
The original filing is on Take-Two’s website, and the original story is over on VentureBeat if you wanted to check it out. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Grand Theft Auto 6 news as it crashes in.
