Xbox Says GTA 6 Pre-Orders Are Breaking Its Records
Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball said on September 24 that Grand Theft Auto VI is breaking pre-order records on Xbox and that Xbox’s share of pre-orders matches its share of the console market. He was replying to a report from The Verge that, according to sources at Xbox, GTA 6 pre-orders are heavily skewed toward PlayStation 5. Neither side has published a single number.
What The Verge reported
Tom Warren, senior editor at The Verge, wrote on September 24, in a report on Microsoft’s restructuring of its games business, that sources at Xbox told him GTA 6 pre-orders lean heavily toward PS5, as summarised by Push Square. The report gave no percentages, no sales figures and no split by edition. It is a sourced report, not data.
What Xbox said
Ball answered Warren directly on X the same day. His reply, reported by GamesRadar+, makes three claims: Xbox is very happy with GTA 6 pre-orders, “the title is breaking records for XBOX”, and more records are expected through the fall. He added that Xbox’s internal analysis puts its share of GTA 6 pre-orders in line with its share of the console market.
Why both statements can be true
The two claims are less opposed than the headlines suggest. If Xbox’s share of pre-orders matches its share of the current console market, and that market leans toward PlayStation, then pre-orders lean toward PlayStation too. Ball did not dispute a PS5 majority. He said the Xbox slice is where Xbox expected it to be, and that it is large by Xbox’s own standards.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella made the same point on Bluesky, suggesting that given Xbox’s current market share, a split that merely mirrors it is nothing to celebrate, according to GamesRadar+. Microsoft does not publish Xbox Series X and S sales figures, so the market share Ball refers to cannot be checked from the outside.
Rockstar’s own marketing has leaned on PlayStation as well: the studio said Trailer 2 was captured entirely in-game on a PlayStation 5. That says nothing about sales, but it is part of why the platform question keeps coming up. Our guide to GTA 6 at 30fps on PS5 and PS5 Pro covers what is known, and what is only reported, about performance.
What Take-Two has said
Take-Two has never broken GTA 6 pre-orders down by platform. The only official characterisation came on its August earnings call, when CEO Strauss Zelnick called the overall level of pre-orders unprecedented and said demand was skewing to the premium edition, without giving a figure. Our report on Take-Two’s Q1 results has the details. Rockstar has not commented on the split at all.
So, as of today, the verifiable facts are these:
| Claim | Source | Numbers published? |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-orders are heavily skewed toward PS5 | The Verge, citing Xbox sources | No |
| GTA 6 is breaking Xbox pre-order records | Matthew Ball, Xbox | No |
| Xbox’s share matches its console market share | Matthew Ball, Xbox | No |
| Overall pre-orders are unprecedented | Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two | No |
What it means if you have pre-ordered
Nothing changes for players. The game costs the same on both consoles, $79.99 for the Standard Edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition, launches November 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, and pre-loading opens November 12. Our guide to the GTA 6 editions and pre-orders lists what each version includes.
The real split will only be visible after launch, if Take-Two, Sony or Microsoft chooses to publish it, or through retail trackers such as Circana in the United States. Until then, treat any platform percentage you see as an estimate.