GTA 6 presales top $1B ahead of launch, Sensor Tower says

Grand Theft Auto VI has brought in about $1 billion in estimated digital presales, and the game does not launch until Nov. 19. Sensor Tower estimates the game had sold 10.31 million pre-orders across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S as of Nov. 11, a figure net of expected returnsfinance.yahoo.com. A later update to the tracker on Nov. 12 put the totals at $1.09 billion and 11.27 million unitsusatoday.com. For comparison, Grand Theft Auto V needed three days after its 2013 release to reach $1 billionmashable.com.

These are third-party estimates. Rockstar Games and its parent, Take-Two Interactive ↘ 1.88%, have not confirmed any presale figures.finance.yahoo.com

Late surge in orders

Pre-orders opened in June, and buying picked up as launch got closer. Sales jumped between Nov. 5 and Nov. 10, and preloading began on Nov. 10. Sensor Tower's Nov. 3 estimate had been just over $750 million from 7.71 million copies. That means the game added about 2.6 million copies and roughly $250 million in a little over a week.usatoday.com+1

PlayStation accounts for about 75% of orders, an estimated 7.73 million copies worth $751 million. Buyers are spending an average of about $97 per copy, which suggests many chose the $99.99 Ultimate Edition. Sony and Microsoft ↗ 0.36% both said it is the most pre-ordered game ever on their digital stores.notebookcheck.net+1

Take-Two stays cautious

Take-Two reported fiscal second-quarter results on Monday, Nov. 9. CEO Strauss Zelnick said in the release that "with pre-orders continuing to reach unprecedented levels, we expect to deliver an historic year for our company". On the analyst call, he said pre-orders were "tracking far in excess of our initial expectations".sec.gov+1

The company still kept its fiscal 2027 net bookings outlook at $8 billion to $8.2 billion. For the October–December quarter, it guided to $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion, compared with $1.76 billion a year earlier. "We're maintaining our guidance, because the release is only 10 days away and we'll know a lot more after the release," Zelnick said.gamesindustry.biz+1

Billions expected

Analysts expect much more after launch. Newzoo projected in July that cumulative revenue could reach $3.3 billion to $5.2 billion by the end of the first week. Other forecasts put sales at 40 million copies and $3 billion to $5 billion in the first four months.notebookcheck.net+1

Not everyone expects pre-orders to keep climbing at the same pace. Sensor Tower's Karl Kontus estimated that pre-orders could peak around 25 million because demand looks unusually front-loaded. The game is estimated to have cost more than $1 billion to develop, and it arrives during a period of layoffs and studio closures across the industry. "This is a completely irrational business," games investor Joost van Dreunen told DPA.finance.yahoo.com+2