GTA 6 Preorders Pass 6.45 Million and $630 Million, With PlayStation Taking 74% of the Pile

By CriticalPixel · 2026-10-20

Grand Theft Auto VI has not even launched and Sensor Tower already has it printing money. The analytics firm's GTA 6 tracker now says the game has sold more than 6.45 million digital preorders worth more than $630 million, according to GameSpot's report of the update. PlayStation 5 owns 74 percent of that pile and Xbox Series X|S gets the remaining 26 percent. Those are third party estimates, not Rockstar or Take-Two figures, and that distinction matters. Still, with the November 19 launch date locked in, this is the loudest early signal we have had about how big this thing is going to be.

Official Rockstar Games featured artwork for Grand Theft Auto VI

What Sensor Tower is actually counting

The earlier snapshot is the one with the full breakdown. As of October 13, Sensor Tower estimated 6.08 million digital preorders and about $594 million in revenue, both net of returns, according to Wccftech. PlayStation accounted for 4.51 million of those preorders and $441 million, while Xbox sat at 1.57 million and $153 million. The gap between that reading and the newer one works out to roughly 370,000 preorders and $36 million, though the GameSpot post does not say which date the new figure covers. GamesIndustry.biz notes that the vast majority of preorders are for the $100 Ultimate Edition, which explains why the revenue runs so far ahead of what a pile of $79.99 standard copies would produce. Do the math and the average preorder is worth close to $98, so almost nobody is buying the cheaper version.

The caveats nobody retweeting this will mention

Read the fine print and the headline gets less tidy. GamesIndustry.biz says Sensor Tower's comparison data only covers digital preorders in the United States, and that the analysis leaves boxed releases out entirely. Wccftech describes the 6.08 million total as worldwide as of October 13, while the historical comparison against other games is restricted to the US, so the two outlets are not framing the geography the same way. That gap in the reporting matters, because the social posts flying around this week treat US only and worldwide as one thing. Neither slide includes physical preorders, so the true total is higher than any of these numbers. The 74 to 26 split therefore tells us about digital storefront habits, not total demand on each platform.

Official Rockstar Games promotional image for the Grand Theft Auto VI Ultimate Edition

How far ahead of Call of Duty is it?

Sensor Tower's historical comparison is the part that should make every other publisher nervous. At the same point before release, GTA 6 is 148 percent ahead of the previous best performer, 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, based on US digital preorders. The chart also tracks Diablo IV, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part II, Starfield and Ghost of Tsushima. All of them sit well below Modern Warfare II, which in turn sits well below GTA 6. A separate line tracking only the premium $100 edition also stays far above every other game on the chart. Sensor Tower limits its six year claim to the games it tracks, but those tend to be the biggest releases anyway.

What people are saying

Reaction on X is loud but thin on substance. Some replies under the GameSpot post amount to awe at over half a billion dollars landing before launch. One reader asked whether the 74 to 26 split simply tracks install base, and the same thread raised a fair question the coverage does not answer: whether Sensor Tower counts PS Plus bundle preorders or only standalone ones. Another reply declared that without a disc they will not buy, which is a reminder that digital only numbers are blind to the people waiting for a boxed copy. That is roughly three independent reactions, so the honest read is that reaction is limited, mostly amazement mixed with skepticism about methodology. We are not going to invent a consensus out of a handful of replies.

The CriticalPixel take

Here is what stands out to us. GTA 6 is a $100 game for most of the people actually buying it, and a month out the audience is voting with its wallet for the most expensive edition on the shelf. Rockstar is collecting $630 million of paper revenue on a price tag most publishers would never dare to attach to a game. That is a scary amount of leverage over a release calendar, and every studio that planned a November or December launch is now sharing a runway with a game that will eat the entire conversation. The PlayStation lead is also worth watching, because an estimated 4.51 million PlayStation preorders against 1.57 million on Xbox hands Sony a talking point just as the next hardware generation argument heats up. Do not read the 74 percent as proof that Xbox owners are not interested, because these numbers cannot say that.

Official Rockstar Games extended look artwork for Grand Theft Auto VI

Keep one eye on the caveats and the other on the next Sensor Tower update, because the tracker is moving weekly. If the pace holds, the number that matters will not be preorders but launch week, and Piper Sandler's earlier estimate of upwards of 48 million units in that window, as relayed by Wccftech, starts to look less like a fantasy. Rockstar and Take-Two have not confirmed any of this, and until they do, every figure here is an outside estimate. Launch is November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and the preorder pile is only going one direction between now and then.