Take-Two Interactive Falls After Delaying ‘Grand Theft Auto V’

Two-Two Interactive Software Inc. fell the most in more than three years after the video-game publisher delayed the release of the next installment of its blockbuster title “Grand Theft Auto.”

The shares fell 6.3 percent to $12.24 at 11:25 a.m. New York time, after earlier falling as much as 12 percent for the biggest intraday decline since Dec. 4, 2009.

“Grand Theft Auto V,” for use on Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.s PlayStation 3 home consoles, will be released on Sept. 17 instead of the spring to “allow additional development time,” the New York-based company said today in a statement.

Delaying the title “positions the game to benefit from holiday buying,” Michael Olson, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos., said in a note today.

“While we are disappointed to see ‘GTA V’ delayed, it is understandable given the extremely critical nature of the video game industry,” said Olson, who rates the shares overweight, the equivalent of a buy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cliff Edwards in San Francisco at cedwards28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net