TL;DR
Sensor Tower estimates that GTA VI had 10.31 million pre-orders worth about $1 billion on November 11, eight days before its scheduled release. Sony and Take-Two have confirmed strong demand but have not published a pre-order total, so the billion-dollar figure remains an outside estimate.
Grand Theft Auto VI may have reached about $1 billion in pre-orders eight days before its scheduled November 19 release, according to market research firm Sensor Tower, as reported by Forbes and GameSpot. The estimate is not an official sales figure: publisher Take-Two Interactive has not disclosed pre-order totals, though Sony and Take-Two executives have described demand as unusually strong.
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Sensor Tower estimates that 10.31 million copies had been pre-purchased across PlayStation and Xbox by November 11, generating roughly $1 billion in gross revenue. GameSpot reported the estimate as 7.73 million copies on PlayStation 5, worth about $751 million, and 2.58 million on Xbox Series X|S, worth about $250 million. Those platform figures and revenue totals come from the tracker, not Take-Two.
Sony offered a separate, official confirmation of demand without giving a count. In a November 10 PlayStation Blog post, the company said GTA VI was “now the most pre-ordered game in the history of PlayStation Store.” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders were “tracking far in excess of our initial expectations.” Neither statement verifies Sensor Tower’s overall estimate or its dollar value.
Sensor Tower also projects that total pre-purchases could reach as many as 25 million by launch, according to GameSpot. That is a forecast, not a reported final total. The tracker’s August figures were 3.15 million PlayStation pre-orders and 930,000 Xbox pre-orders through July 20; it then put combined net revenue at $395 million. The figures show growth in the tracker’s estimates, but the company has not published enough detail about its method to treat them as an audited count.
A Launch Built Into Take-Two’s Forecast
The estimate matters because it suggests that a substantial share of GTA VI’s launch demand may already be reflected in purchases before the game is available to play. If accurate, it would give the release an unusually large head start in revenue, while still leaving the final launch performance unknown.
Take-Two’s own outlook shows how much the release matters to its business expectations. The company forecasts $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion in net bookings for October through December 2026, the quarter containing the launch, compared with $1.76 billion in the same period a year earlier. On its November 9 earnings call, CFO Lainie Goldstein gave the comparison. Take-Two kept its full-year net bookings forecast at $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion.
The quarter forecast reflects the company’s expectations for its portfolio and is not a GTA VI sales target. Take-Two’s second fiscal quarter net bookings fell 18% to $1.60 billion. Zelnick said NBA 2K27 was below the company’s forecast for that period, while the Grand Theft Auto series exceeded it. The contrast helps explain why investors and players are watching the upcoming release closely.
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How the GTA V Comparison Works
The headline comparison is with GTA V’s first three days on sale. Take-Two said in 2013 that the game passed $1 billion in worldwide retail sales during that period. It also said it believed no entertainment property, including games and films, had reached that milestone faster. Sensor Tower’s GTA VI figure, by contrast, is an estimate of pre-orders before release. The amounts concern different time periods and measurement methods, so they do not establish a like-for-like record.
Sensor Tower’s August report also cited historical pre-order figures: it said GTA V had 7 million pre-orders, with 11 million global units sold on launch day and 16 million in its first week. The same report said CD Projekt Red reported 8 million Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders in 2020, and that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders topped 6.5 million in 2011. These figures come from different sources and reporting contexts, so they provide scale rather than a uniform ranking.
GTA VI is scheduled for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S; no PC release date is given in the source material. The U.S. PlayStation Store lists the Standard Edition at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99. The source reports a download size of up to 212 GB and says the boxed edition does not include a disc. Those details may shape buyers’ costs and access, but they do not confirm how many customers chose each edition.
““Grand Theft Auto VI is now the most pre-ordered game in the history of PlayStation Store.””
— Sony, PlayStation Blog, November 10, 2026
The Official Pre-Order Count Is Pending
Take-Two has not released an official GTA VI pre-order total. Sensor Tower’s estimate covers PlayStation and Xbox according to the cited reports, but the tracker’s calculation method is not fully explained in the source material. Tech site tech-ish also questioned whether the tracker includes boxed copies. The estimated revenue and unit total should therefore be treated as an outside measure, not a company-confirmed result.
It is also unclear whether Sensor Tower’s projection of up to 25 million pre-purchases will be reached, how the estimate divides buyers among game editions, or what the final launch sales will be. The GTA V comparison cannot settle those questions because one figure concerns pre-orders before release and the other concerns sales after the game went on sale.
Release Day Will Test the Estimate
GTA VI is scheduled to launch on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The next clearer measure will be an official post-launch sales update from Take-Two, if and when the company reports one. Until then, Sony’s PlayStation Store milestone and Take-Two’s comments confirm strong demand, while the headline billion-dollar total remains Sensor Tower’s estimate.
Key Questions
Has GTA VI officially made $1 billion before launch?
No. Sensor Tower estimates that pre-orders were worth about $1 billion by November 11, but Take-Two has not published an official pre-order total.
How many copies does Sensor Tower estimate were pre-ordered?
The tracker estimates 10.31 million copies across PlayStation and Xbox as of November 11, 2026, according to reports by Forbes and GameSpot.
What has Sony confirmed?
Sony said GTA VI was the most pre-ordered game in PlayStation Store history. It did not provide a number, and its statement covers PlayStation Store rather than total sales across platforms.
How does the figure compare with GTA V?
Take-Two said GTA V passed $1 billion in worldwide retail sales during its first three days on sale in 2013. GTA VI’s reported figure is an outside estimate of pre-orders before release, so the measurements are not directly comparable.
When and where is GTA VI scheduled to launch?
The game is scheduled for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The source material gives no PC release date.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
