While common sentiment across the industry revolves around Grand Theft Auto 6’s upcoming release likely causing a boost in console hardware sales, it looks like pre-order sales of the title have been heavily skewed in favor of the PS5 version. According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, pre-order numbers for Grand Theft Auto 6 have resulted in “ringing yet more alarm bells about” Xbox.
In a social media post, Xbox’s chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, has responded to Warren’s report by saying that Xbox has been quite happy with the pre-order performance of Grand Theft Auto 6, and even went on to say that it is breaking records for the platform.
“Tom, we are very happy with GTA VI pre-orders. The title is breaking records for Xbox; we expect even more records will be broken throughout the fall, and our internal analysis shows our share of pre-orders to be matching our share of the console market.”
It is worth noting that Ball didn’t quite deny the fact that pre-orders for the PS5 version of Grand Theft Auto 6 have been outperforming the Xbox Series X/S version. Rather, he noted that the current pre-order numbers match up to the company’s console market share. Ball didn’t respond to another post by Warren asking him what Xbox’s market share currently is.
The fact that Sony has signed a marketing deal with Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive has also likely played a role when it comes to pre-order performance. This even went as far as to prominently feature the fact that the Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look from last month featured footage of the game running on a base PS5.
Sony even unveiled a pair of limited edition DualSense controllers featuring art referencing Grand Theft Auto 6. The controllers became available for pre-orders earlier this month and are expected to reach buyers on the same day as the game’s November 19th release. The controllers are available in black and white colors, with the former signifying Vice City’s nightlife while the latter embodies the city during the day.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick had spoken about the challenges in marketing a game for which awareness is already quite high. In an interview, he noted that the company is more focused on creating enthusiasm rather than raising awareness among the audience. This extends to the studio doing its best to ensure that Grand Theft Auto 6 gets a strong critical reception thanks to its sheer quality.
“You’re amplifying word of mouth because what you can’t do is pay anyone to say something that’s terrible is good. Even if they’re the most craven creator on earth, the minute they did that, they lose their own audience, right? So, no one’s going to do that.”
“My point is you can’t game the system. We cannot convince people that something that’s bad is good. What we can do is say to people, ‘Look, it’s out there. You’re being exposed to it. It’s important. You ought to try it.’”
For more details, check out Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album, as well as the $400 Grand Theft Auto 6: The Good Time State – Vice City Collection.
