Sensor Tower estimates GTA 6 pre-orders at $751 million

Sensor Tower's estimate covers digital console purchases on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It excludes physical copies reserved at retailers, and neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has published a pre-order count. Dexerto reported the figures are estimates, not official sales data.

What the estimate says

Sensor Tower puts PlayStation at about 5.74 million copies and $559 million, and Xbox Series X|S at about 1.97 million copies and $192 million. That is a 74% to 26% split. Dexerto reported that the firm said GTA 6 generated more than $100 million in additional pre-order revenue over the past two weeks.

TechSpot reported that the same tracker stood at about 6.45 million copies and $630 million as of 20 October. That leaves a gain of roughly 1.26 million units and $121 million in about two weeks. Divide revenue by units and the average comes to about $97 per pre-order, closer to the $99.99 Ultimate Edition than the $79.99 Standard Edition.

The GTA 5 benchmark

Take-Two's own figures for GTA 5 remain the yardstick. The game took more than $800 million in worldwide sales in its first 24 hours in September 2013 and passed $1 billion within three days, Dexerto reported, citing the publisher. GTA 6's estimated $751 million leaves it about $50 million short of that first-day total, Sportskeeda reported.

The comparison is not exact. Sensor Tower's numbers are third-party estimates, while Take-Two's figures cover sales after GTA 5 launched. Forbes noted that the $800 million figure includes pre-orders, which count as realised at launch. GTA 6 also sells for $80 against $60 for GTA 5 at launch, and a $100 edition that Rockstar has said accounts for the majority of sales increases the dollar total by itself.

GTA 5 has sold more than 230 million copies since 2013, with Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar's next best, on 87 million. Forbes noted that the long-term health of the new game will lean on GTA 6 Online, that no timeline for it has been given, and that GTA 6 is not launching on PC, unlike big-earning competitors such as Call of Duty.

Forecasts and next steps

Piper Sandler expects Rockstar might sell north of 45 million copies by launch, TechSpot reported. Preloading begins on 10 November, and the game releases on 19 November 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, Dexerto reported.

Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick has called the pre-orders "unprecedented and astonishing and astronomical" on an earnings call, Sportskeeda reported. He declined to share exact unit sales. Asked at the Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference how much the game cost to make, he said only that it was expensive and took a long time. Rockstar has confirmed the game did not cost $1.5 billion to make, Forbes reported.