“Grand Theft Auto VI” has reached $1 billion in sales, according to market research firm Sensor Tower, hitting the benchmark eight days before its highly anticipated release and far outpacing the pre-order sales of its predecessor.
Key Facts
The $1 billion in revenue generated by the upcoming GTA title comes from an estimated 10.31 million units sold, according to Sensor Tower’s sales tracker for the game.
PlayStation units of “Grand Theft Auto VI” account for 75% of the game’s sales, while Xbox units account for 25%.
“Grand Theft Auto V,” which released in 2013, received 7 million pre-orders and had 11 million global units sold at launch before jumping to 16 million at the end of its first week, according to Sensor Tower, meaning the latest GTA will likely see a large spike in revenue when and after it releases on Nov. 19.
Take-Two, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar Games, has not publicly released official sales figures for “Grand Theft Auto VI,” though Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said during a Tuesday earnings report that pre-orders were “tracking far above our initial expectations.”
Big Number
About 235 million. That is how many copies of “Grand Theft Auto V” have been sold since its 2013 launch, according to Take-Two’s second quarter earnings. The company also revealed the entire GTA franchise has sold nearly 480 million units.
Tangent
Take-Two’s stock grew over 3% to $231.83 on Wednesday, continuing to recover from one of its lowest points of the year. Shares are down 9.7% since the start of the year.
Key Background
“Grand Theft Auto VI” has arguably become the most anticipated video game of all time, with the title set to expand on Rockstar’s industry-leading graphics and open-world gameplay. The game faced two delays during production, being pushed from fall 2025 to May 2026, then from May 2026 to Nov. 19. It also faced gameplay leaks in August from an account that threatened to leak increasingly more content over Rockstar’s decision to “Grand Theft Auto VI” without any physical discs—a pain point for many gamers who argue that digital downloads do not equate to permanent ownership since titles can be removed by gaming platforms. The upcoming game is expected to break the world record set by “Grand Theft Auto V” for highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours, which the predecessor did by garnering $815.7 million in sales on Sept. 17, 2013.
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