Shares of Take-Two Interactive rose significantly following a data breach at Rockstar Games that exposed internal revenue figures for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online, according to kotaku.com.
On Monday, the hacking group ShinyHunters released confidential data involving player numbers and earnings. The group reportedly obtained the information through a breach of cloud servers and metrics software.
Rockstar Games confirmed the security incident but declined to pay the ransom demanded by the hackers. In response, ShinyHunters posted the stolen assets on the dark web.
Profitability outweighs breach concerns
While the leak did not include source code or news regarding Grand Theft Auto 6, the revealed numbers highlighted the immense profitability of Rockstar's live-service titles. The outlet reported that the data shows GTA Online generating approximately one million dollars in revenue every day.
Investors reacted positively to the financial strength shown in the leaked documents. At the market opening, Take-Two's stock sat at roughly $202 per share before climbing to $207 per share, according to Insider Gaming.
This surge represented a nearly one billion dollar increase in the publisher's market capitalization. By 1:05 p.m. EST, the stock had settled slightly to $205.77 per share.
Typically, a data breach involving sensitive company information triggers a decline in share price. However, the revealed scale of GTA Online's daily earnings appeared to bolster investor confidence in the publisher's long-term revenue streams.
ShinyHunters initially taunted the studio on their website, asking Rockstar how it "feels to be the headline now." The financial gains following the leak suggest the news provided a boost rather than a setback for the parent company, kotaku.com reported.