GTA 6 Pre-Orders Top 6.4 Million, Sensor Tower Estimates
Grand Theft Auto VI had about 6.45 million digital pre-orders on PlayStation and Xbox as of October 20, worth about 630 million dollars net of returns, according to the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. It is an estimate, not a sales figure: Take-Two and Rockstar have never published a pre-order number. The next chance for official numbers is Take-Two’s earnings call on November 9, ten days before launch.
The latest numbers
Sensor Tower publishes a public GTA VI sales tracker, updated weekly. Its October 20 update reads:
| Units (net of returns) | Revenue (net of returns) | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | 4.80 million | 468 million dollars | 74% |
| Xbox Series X and S | 1.66 million | 162 million dollars | 26% |
| Total | 6.45 million | 630 million dollars |
A week earlier the picture was 6.08 million units and 594 million dollars as of October 13, as GamesIndustry.biz reported on October 20. That is roughly 370,000 extra pre-orders in seven days, a month before release. For a longer view, Sensor Tower’s own launch post for the tracker counted 3.15 million on PlayStation and 0.93 million on Xbox through July 20, less than four weeks after pre-orders opened on June 25.
One caution on those comparisons: Sensor Tower notes on the tracker that it updated its estimation model on October 5 to better reflect country splits, with a small effect on global units, revenue and the console mix. Earlier and later snapshots are close, but not strictly like for like.
Ahead of everything Sensor Tower tracks
GamesIndustry.biz’s article is built around a comparison with the biggest launches of recent years. Against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), Diablo 4, Hogwarts Legacy and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, GTA 6’s pre-order curve sits far above the rest: at the same distance from launch, it is 148% ahead of Modern Warfare 2, the strongest of the group. That comparison uses US digital pre-orders only. Sensor Tower also says the vast majority of GTA 6 pre-orders are for the 99.99 dollar Ultimate Edition.
For scale, GamesIndustry.biz notes that analysts it surveyed earlier this year expected GTA 6 to sell somewhere between 30 million and more than 50 million units in its first year.
What the estimate does not cover
- Boxed copies. The data counts digital pre-orders on PlayStation and Xbox storefronts. Physical pre-orders at retailers are not in it, and the boxed edition, which holds a download code rather than a disc, is sold through shops as well.
- Official confirmation. These are modelled estimates from store data, not figures from Take-Two, Sony or Microsoft.
- Final revenue. Pre-orders can be cancelled before release. Sensor Tower reports its numbers net of returns, but the count can still move.
The 74 to 26 split lines up with the September back and forth between The Verge, which reported that pre-orders lean heavily toward PS5, and Xbox’s Matthew Ball, who said Xbox’s share matches its share of the console market. Our article on that exchange explains why both statements can be true. Sensor Tower’s numbers point the same way.
November 9: Take-Two’s last call before launch
On October 13, Take-Two announced that it will report results for its fiscal second quarter, the three months ended September 30, 2026, after the market closes on Monday, November 9, with a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. A webcast will be available on Take-Two’s investor site. It is the last scheduled earnings call before GTA 6 ships on November 19.
Do not expect a pre-order total. In August, CEO Strauss Zelnick called pre-orders “unprecedented and astonishing” and said demand was skewing toward the premium edition, but gave no figure; our report on the first-quarter results covers that call. Take-Two has also held its full-year outlook at 8.0 to 8.2 billion dollars in net bookings, and any change to that range on November 9 would be the clearest official signal yet of how the launch is tracking.
What it means for you
Nothing changes for players. Pre-orders remain open on both consoles, and our guide to the GTA 6 editions lists what each one includes. The countdown has the time left to November 19.