PS5 pre-orders for GTA 6 are outselling Xbox by a huge margin

GTA 6 is showing the console divide (Rockstar Games)

Sony’s PS5 is the very clear platform of choice when it comes to GTA 6 pre-orders, as it dwarfs Xbox Series X/S sales. 

Rockstar’s highly anticipated sequel to GTA 5 might be launching across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but the bulk of the marketing is going towards Sony’s machine. 

Sony has already bragged about why GTA 6 ‘plays best’ on its console in a blog post, citing DualSense features and faster load times, thanks to its custom SSD. Additionally, the PlayStation 5 start-up animation has been given a makeover dedicated to the sequel. 

The thrust of the marketing is going to be behind the PlayStation 5 as its sales far exceed the Xbox Series X/S, but new data has revealed just how wide the gulf is. 

According to data sourced by the IGN Deals account on Instagram, PlayStation 5 pre-orders for GTA 6 are outselling Xbox Series X/S by a factor of 6-to-1, which is a pretty massive margin. 

As of March this year, Sony’s PlayStation 5 has sold 93 million units worldwide. While Microsoft long ago stopped reporting console sales numbers, the Xbox Series X/S had a combined total of 28.3 million sales in 2024 and is estimated to be around 35 million now.

Along with the weak console sales, the low volume of Xbox pre-orders might be due to how many Xbox players now rely on Xbox Game Pass. GTA 6 isn’t launching on the subscription service, and it’s unclear if it ever will, but many analysts fear the service has got Xbox owners out of the habit of paying full price for new games.

Unfortunately for both Sony and Microsoft, GTA 6 will arrive at a time when hardware sales are plummeting thanks to unavoidable price hikes, so it remains to be seen if it will impact Xbox Series X/S sales in any meaningful way. That’s especially true as Xbox prices are set to rise yet again in August.

For now, it’s clear Rockstar’s sequel is going to sell considerably more on the PlayStation 5, but with five months to go until it launches on November 19, the question is whether Sony can produce enough new consoles to meet demand.

The ultimate edition has some throwback outfits (Rockstar Games)

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