“GTA 6” has to follow one of the bestselling video games of all time

The predecessor of “GTA 6” was just behind “Tetris” and “Minecraft” in all-time sales.

2/10/25 11:20AM

Amid a postpandemic hangover for the wider industry, video game makers are taking a leaf out of Hollywood’s playbook, hoping that sequels and reboots can propel the industry back to growth.

Strategy heavy “Civilization VII” is out officially tomorrow, Medieval favorite “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II” hit the (mostly digital) shelves a week ago, and the OG “The Sims” will be rereleased in celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

But none of those high-profile games carry the weight of expectation that “Grand Theft Auto 6” will shoulder when it debuts this fall. Even just the confirmation that the game will come out this year was enough for the share price of owner Take-Two Interactive to soar last week.

Predicted to make $3.2 billion in sales in its first 12 months, the latest of the “GTA” series will easily be the biggest debut of the year, following after its predecessor, which sold 210 million copies, ranking as the third-most-sold video game of all time according to data compiled by GameSpot.

Given how much the industry has moved on since “GTA 5,” breaking into this top 10 and unseating classics like the “Super Mario” series from Nintendo — games that were often bundled with the company’s popular hardware products — will be a monumental task. Indeed, as the supply of video games has exploded, even megahits like Microsoft’s open-world game “Minecraft” have topped out at roughly 300 million sales, which is why iconic block-sorting game “Tetris” is likely to top this list for decades.

Consoling

Gaming companies have been reporting lackluster earnings in February: a disappointing outlook from Roblox pushed its shares down on Thursday, Electronic Arts’ “EA Sports FC 25” is underwhelming gamers, and Nintendo’s Switch sales are slipping, too.

Max Knoblauch10/24/25

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.