Take-Two Interactive reported $1.39 billion in net bookings for the quarter in which it opened pre-orders for “Grand Theft Auto 6”, with chief executive Strauss Zelnick calling demand “unprecedented and astonishing”. The company did not disclose GTA 6 pre-order figures and cautioned that it is too early to judge how demand will translate into final sales, but the response signals strong anticipation for one of gaming’s most important forthcoming releases.

Pre-orders opened on 25 June and were available for five days of the April-to-June quarter; the standard edition costs $79.99 and the Ultimate edition $99.99, ahead of a planned 19 November release. Quarterly revenue was $1.53 billion, while net bookings fell 3% year on year from $1.42 billion; NBA 2K bookings rose 7% and GTA bookings rose 3%, but Take-Two’s loss widened to $34.1 million from $11.9 million.