Despite massive backlash against the Ultimate Edition and the lack of a disc in the physical version, Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders are reportedly set to break records. A new analysis by Newzoo estimates that digital sales in the United States and the “top five European markets” have topped around $180 million. If you factor in the “uncounted regions,” then it reportedly goes up to $260 million.
Keep in mind that this is only within the first week of pre-orders going live. If it keeps this pace up, GTA 6 may well have “the strongest pre-order campaign ever recorded,” potentially earning about $3.3 to $5.2 billion within launch week. When boiling that range down further, the firm believes that “GTA 6 is on pace for $4.5 billion in sales by launch week (roughly 51 million units at an assumed $88 average selling price).” A potential 51 million sales in seven days. It’s absurd when you say it out loud, but such is the hype.
As for why that’s the case, it describes the title as falling into the “proven sequel – a known quantity” model. These include franchises which are “Massively anticipated each release with a tried and tested formula. The audience is aggregated, loyal and established. They don’t need to ‘wait and see’, so a higher share of the total revenue is booked early in the pre-order window.”
Of course, this is only if the pre-order sales momentum can keep up, but at this point, Newzoo hits back at claims it’s already earned “a billion dollars in pre-orders.” “This is absurd. Given how pre-order curves look, nothing ever has and nothing ever will in the near future.”
Launching on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5, Grand Theft Auto 6 is easily the most anticipated game of the year. Check out our feature for the latest details, including what makes the Ultimate Edition so sought after.
