Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia is predicting Grand Theft Auto V will be launching in the Q1 2013, and will provide an influx of $700M in sales, selling over 14M units in the first three months of release.
For some perspective, Grand Theft Auto IV may not have sold as many units as some had expected, but the title did sell over 19M units over three platforms.
Bhatia went on to say he expected just over $1 billion for Take 2 Interactive products in this fiscal year, despite Max Payne 3 being the only Rockstar title that is due to be released this year. He went on to say that ”is all but a given” that Grand Theft Auto V will be released before the March 31, 2013, end of Take 2 Interactive’s fiscal year.
Take 2 Interactive’s revenues were at $828M last fiscal year; with the publisher stating it will generate somewhere between $1.75 billion to $1.85 billion, which seems to indicate Take 2 is planning to get GTA5 on shelves before the fiscal year is out.
