GTA 6 pre-orders top $750 million in Sensor Tower estimates
GTA 6 has drawn an estimated 7.71 million pre-orders across PS5 and Xbox Series X|S ahead of its November 19, 2026, release. Sensor Tower puts pre-order revenue above $750 million with about two weeks remaining, though neither Rockstar Games nor Take-Two has confirmed the count.
Layla Haddad
PS5 accounts for 74% of estimated pre-orders
Sensor Tower's November 3 update shows an increase of nearly 1.3 million copies and more than $100 million from the previous figures, which Insider Gaming reported earlier in October. Revenue in that earlier update was already well above $600 million. The game has been available to pre-order since June 25.
The tracker attributes 5.74 million pre-orders and $559 million in revenue to PS5, giving it a 74% share of units. Xbox Series X|S represents the remaining 26%, with 1.97 million copies and $192 million in revenue.
GamingBolt attributes PlayStation's lead to its larger installed base and Sony's marketing agreement with Rockstar. The outlet also reports that Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball said in September that Xbox was satisfied with its pre-orders and that its share was in line with its portion of the console market.
The figures remain third-party estimates rather than publisher-reported sales. Rockstar has not released its own pre-order total.
Sales benchmarks and revenue forecasts
Insider Gaming reports that pre-order revenue grew by more than $100 million in roughly two weeks. Whether it will reach $1 billion before release remains uncertain. GTA 6's Standard Edition costs $79.99 and its Ultimate Edition $99.99, according to Technology.org, exceeding the $69.99 ceiling that had held for a decade for triple-A games.
The estimated pre-order count is already higher than Crimson Desert's 6 million sales in less than three months. It is also about half the 15 million copies that made Meccha Chameleon 2026's best-selling game.
For a comparison within the series, GTA 5 generated about $800 million during its first 24 hours in 2013 and passed $1 billion within three days. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that it has since sold 230 million copies, making it the bestselling non-mobile video game of all time.
Forecasts for GTA 6 cover several different periods and measures. Newzoo projects revenue of close to $5.2 billion during launch week. Separately, Bloomberg Businessweek reports that some analysts anticipate 40 million PlayStation and Xbox sales and more than $3 billion in revenue over the first four months.
Take-Two's guidance calls for $8 billion to $8.2 billion in net bookings for April 2026 through March 2027, compared with $6.72 billion the previous fiscal year. According to Leonida Interactive's breakdown, the publisher expects GTA 6 to contribute the roughly $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion increase during the four and a half months between November 19, 2026, and March 31, 2027.
Development costs remain undisclosed
Bloomberg Businessweek's October 2026 report says GTA 6 spent more than eight years in development and went through two delays. Rockstar has not disclosed its budget. The magazine reports that head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe rejected a rumor that development had cost more than the $1.5 billion spent building Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
Analyst estimates cited by Leonida Interactive place development spending at roughly $1 billion to $1.5 billion. Including marketing and infrastructure for the next GTA Online raises those estimates to around $2 billion; these are not Rockstar-confirmed figures.
According to Technology.org, Rockstar North co-head Aaron Garbut has said the game will contain 600,000 animations. That compares with about 300,000 in Red Dead Redemption 2 and 55,000 in GTA 5.
The November release is for the single-player game. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that the online component is expected in 2027, while the existing Grand Theft Auto Online generates an estimated $500 million in annual revenue.
Pre-loading begins November 10
Rockstar has announced that digital pre-loading will open November 10, a step Insider Gaming says could encourage more pre-orders. In the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, PS5 downloads become available at midnight local time. Xbox Series X|S downloads open at midnight GMT: 4 a.m. in the UAE, 3 a.m. in Saudi Arabia and 2 a.m. in Egypt.
Rockstar's Newswire says the download requires up to 212 GB of storage. Pre-loading requires a digital pre-order or purchase.
Pre-orders remain available ahead of the November 19 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Code-in-box copies are expected to reach retailers beginning November 12, subject to local stock.
