It’s a little odd to think about, but we are now just one week out from a new Grand Theft Auto game. At this point, the assumption is that it’s going to be the biggest videogame launch ever, and could even be the biggest media launch ever, too. The question is, just how big could it be?
Well, we do have some fun new data to play around with. According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, GTA 6’s pre-orders have already surpassed what GTA 5 managed to sell in its first day, and is therefore well on its way to selling a bazollion copies.
According to their live GTA 6 sales tracker, the game already has a mind-boggling 12.13 million pre-orders, nearly 3x the number that Alinea Analytics reported back in August. At the time, it was also reported that 90% of the pre-orders were for the more expensive $90 Ultimate Edition.
Sensor Tower doesn’t give us the breakdown of what editions are being pre-ordered, but it does gave us an estimated revenue of $1.18 billion, plus a breakdown of consoles: 75% PlayStation, 25% Xbox.
Both PlayStation and Xbox have already confirmed that it’s the most pre-ordered game in the history of their respective digital stores. Even crazier, Sensor Tower confirmed to me that their numbers do not include the code-in-a-box physical editions, meaning the pre-orders could be far higher yet as many people will want to have the box on their shelf, even if it doesn’t come with a proper disc.
Meanwhile, Take-Two’s big boss Strauss Zelnick commented the pre-order numbers were “far in excess of our initial expectations” and added that “the numbers will speak for themselves soon enough.”
So lets put these numbers into perspective, shall we? According to the Guinness World Records claims that GTA 5 sold 11.21 million copies on its first day on sale, meaning GTA 6 has already beaten it on pre-orders alone. GTA 5 also cleared $1 billion in its first 3 days, while GTA 6 may have already beaten that before even launching.
Prior to this, Cyberpunk 2077 was the highest pre-ordered game I could find based on official numbers. CD Projekt said that it managed 8 million pre-orders before it was released, so GTA 6 has comfortably stomped that into the ground.
Avengers: Endgame brought in $1.2 billion in its opening 5-days, so GTA 6 is already set to kick that in the teeth as well. That’s not exactly an apple-to-apples comparison, but still fun to consider. In fact, sticking with movies, The Super Mario Galaxy grossed $1.01 billion across its entire theatrical run, so GTA 6 has managed to beat that as well.
Of course, it does go without saying that this is estimated sales data. Sensor Towers uses its own mix of maths and witchcraft to figure this stuff out and may not be accurate. But even if its off by ten or twenty percent, we’re still talking an inane amount of pre-orders.
What do you guys think GTA 6 will sell on its first day? Are we looking at 20+ million on the first day alone?
