Analyst: GTA V Might Sell Between 18 and 24 Million Units

Grand Theft Auto V has not yet been announced by the developers at Rockstar or by the publisher Take Two but analysts are already thinking about how much the game might sell when it is released and what impact it could have on the parent company.

In a note to investors Michael Pachter, who is an analyst working for Wedbush Morgan and watching the video game industry, said, “We expect the next Grand Theft Auto to sell at least 18 million units, representing a 20% attach rate to the estimated 2011 year-end installed base of PS3 and Xbox 360 in the U.S. and Europe.”

He added, “At this level, we estimate that Grand Theft Auto will generate at least $2.65/share in incremental EPS, making Take-Two’s forecast of ‘in excess’ of $2.00 per share in earnings during FY:13 easily attainable.”

The analyst also says that because Take Two tends to be conservative when it comes to sales projections for its Grand Theft Auto games it could result in an significant increase in the share price and the dividends for shareholders.

Rumors about the existence of GTA V have begun popping up as soon as the second major downloadable content package had been launched for its predecessor but so far nothing seems set in stone about the game.

There have been rumors that Rockstar is modeling the game city after Las Vegas while others have said that this time around the setting for the game will be completely fictional.

Analysts and fans had expected to see an announcement about GTA V made at E3 2011 but it has not arrived and now everyone believes that next spring will see Rockstar and Take Two begin talking about the game.

Recently Take Two has reported lower than expected revenue and profits because of worse than expected performance from L.A. Noire and Duke Nukem Forever.