Rockstar Games has nearly doubled its workforce since Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped, growing from 2,441 employees in 2018 to 4,711 across 12 studios by August, according to Bloomberg. The expansion comes as Grand Theft Auto 6 nears its third scheduled launch date after more than eight years in development and two delays.
The second delay pushed the release to Nov. 19. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, has kept its fiscal 2027 net bookings guidance at $8 billion to $8.2 billion, a range it reiterated in August and tied directly to the November launch.
Seven years of hiring
The headcount figure is the clearest public measure of how much Rockstar has staked on a single title. Going from roughly 2,400 people to 4,700 didn't happen in a single hiring push; it accumulated across the console generation that followed Red Dead Redemption 2. Twelve studios now contribute to GTA 6, a structure that spreads production across time zones and disciplines but also multiplies the coordination burden.
Bloomberg reported that Rockstar overhauled its production culture to curb excessive overtime during GTA 6's development, though the studio couldn't eliminate extra hours entirely. The company has said lessons from this cycle could shorten development of its next major release — a claim that will be tested only after Nov. 19.
The revenue math behind the delay
Analysts expect roughly 40 million sales and $3 billion in revenue within four months of launch, per Bloomberg. Those are the numbers that justify both the headcount and the patience of Take-Two executives who have absorbed two schedule slips.
But GTA's contribution to Take-Two's quarterly results is smaller than the franchise's cultural weight suggests. GameSpot notes that GTA typically accounts for less than 15% of Take-Two's quarterly revenue. In the June quarter, the first of Take-Two's fiscal year, net bookings fell 3% to $1.39 billion — a reminder that the company's other labels carry the load between Rockstar releases.
Rockstar has priced the GTA 6 standard edition at about $80, $20 above GTA V's 2013 launch price, per GameSpot. Whether that increase holds at retail without resistance is one of the open questions heading into the fall.
Wall Street's patience is thinning
Take-Two stock closed at $205.28 on Friday, down 21.86% over the past 12 months. StoneX analyst Mike Hickey maintains a Buy rating and a $300 price target, attributing the decline to the timing of GTA 6's online mode, slowing console sales, and early concerns about NBA 2K27 sales. Hickey's target implies he expects the November launch to reset the narrative; the market hasn't priced that in yet.
Take-Two's guidance for fiscal 2027 hinges on GTA 6 arriving on schedule. The company has already moved the date twice, and each delay has cost it credibility with investors who are now watching for any hint of a third slip.
Leaks and platform questions
Rockstar is also managing the pre-launch information environment. A pseudonymous leaker threatened to spoil the game's ending if caught, and this month Xbox denied reports that it had secured exclusive cloud streaming rights for GTA 6. Neither development affects the launch date, but both show how much attention is fixed on a title that hasn't shipped.
The next concrete checkpoint is Nov. 19. Between now and then, Take-Two reports at least one more quarter of results, and any change to the fiscal 2027 bookings range would be read as a signal about the launch. For now, the guidance stands, the headcount is set, and the game is eight years deep with a date on the calendar.
