Take-Two stock falls more than 5% after Rockstar Games has ‘Grand Theft Auto’ trouble – MarketWatch

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. shares fell more than 5% Monday following a glitchy launch from the companys Grand Theft Auto franchise that lasted through the weekend.

Take-Two TTWO, -5.45% shares fell as much as 7% to an intraday low of $174.82, and closed the regular session down 5.5% at $177.60. In comparison, the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.00% finished the day virtually flat, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.04% declined less than 0.1%.

Back on Thursday, Take-Twos Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition on all major platforms, and since then several outlets have been reporting bugs, outraged gamers demanding refunds, and that those who bought the PC version of the game had not been able to play the game at all.

On Rockstars support page and Twitter account, the studio said it had updated the game and apologized for the inconvenience.

In a note, Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz, who has a buy rating and a $231 price target on Take-Two, said the launch will likely cause investors to lower their December quarter estimates and continue to question TTWOs ability to expand the portfolio while maintaining quality.

Admitting that his expectations for the launch had already been low, Uerkwitz said the launch troubles likely will likely remove some upside, and that while several fixes have already been implemented, including the PC version being available again; we do wonder how the game got launched in this state.

Gamers and investors have become particularly unforgiving when a game is released and it contains bugs. Thats become an even bigger issue since last years buggy release of the long-awaited and overdue Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Projekt SA CDR, -0.80% that forced distributors like Sony Group Corp. 6758, +1.31% to offer full refunds.

Since the Cyberpunk 2077 debacle, the number of delayed game releases has risen noticeably. Back in September, Take-Two said expansions of theGrand Theft Auto franchise and two immersive core titles would be delayed. In this past year, Electronic Arts Inc. EA, -2.86% delayed therelease of Battlefield 2042by a month, and Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI, +1.06% said it was delaying the release Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV.

Of the 27 analysts who cover Take-Two, 17 have buy ratings and 10 have hold ratings, along with an average target price of $214.09, according to FactSet data.

Earlier in the month, Take-Two raised its bookings forecasts for the year during its quarterly earnings report.

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Take-Two stock falls more than 5% after Rockstar Games has 'Grand Theft Auto' trouble - MarketWatch