Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick previously said that every adult with a console will buy Grand Theft Auto VI and the data we have tracked so far is proving him right. In fact, the new figures from Circana show that the game has the highest purchase intent of anything the firm has ever tracked, with nearly one in three gamers in the United States planning to buy a copy of the game.
The numbers come from Circana's PlayerPulse consumer tracker, which it released on October 28. According to Circana's data, GTA 6 holds a 29 percent purchase intent among US console and PC gamers, the highest Circana has recorded for any game and the most anticipated release in its tracking history. Analyst Mat Piscatella called it "a rare cultural and commercial moment," noting that players have waited 13 years for new Grand Theft Auto and that demand should spread into consoles, accessories and subscriptions.
Of course, these aren't confirmed numbers. This is purchase intent, what surveyed gamers say they plan to buy. The record is also specific to Circana's own methodology and history. Even with those caveats, 29 percent is enormous, well above one in four and, added to the pile of data-backed proof of the enormous demand for GTA 6, means that it could very well end up exceeding expectations.
Sure, nearly one in three is not literally everyone, but it it's a number that makes earlier predictions about GTA 6 sales look less like hype and more like an understated forecast.
Every other number points the same way, too. GTA 6 preorders surged after the Extended Look and SensorTower estimates that more than five million copies have been sold, generating around of roughly $630 million in revenue before launch, with Xbox preorders alone past a million and US PS5 sales jumping 22 percent in September. The foundation under all of it is the second-best-selling video game of all time, Grand Theft Auto V, which has sold more than 200 million copies and stayed a top seller for over a decade.
By the looks of it, GTA VI is on track to surpass those numbers in record time.
GTA 6 by the numbers
Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
Purchase intent, US console and PC gamers | 29 percent, the highest Circana has recorded | Circana PlayerPulse |
Preorders | More than 5 million | SensorTower estimate |
Preorder revenue | Around $630 million | SensorTower estimate |
Xbox preorders | More than 1 million | SensorTower estimate |
US PS5 sales, September | Up 22 percent year over year | Circana |
GTA series lifetime sales | Nearly 475 million | Take-Two |
Grand Theft Auto V lifetime sales | More than 200 million | Take-Two |
Wait since Grand Theft Auto V | 13 years | — |
Purchase intent is survey data, not confirmed sales, but every figure points the same way.
Put together, the picture is unambiguous. GTA 6 is tracking as the most anticipated game in the industry's measured history and the campaign behind it is still accelerating.
Rockstar has spent the final stretch opening up in ways that the studio never has, from the full Edge magazine cover treatment that followed Game Informer, LOVE and Dazed, to a Vice City takeover of Miami, comedy sponsorships and creator crews flying in to film. Review codes are reportedly already going out too, so the first scores arrive days before launch. Every one of those is likely turning curious onlookers into prospective buyers, and the 29 percent was measured before most of them have even peaked.
At this point, Zelnick's everyone-will-buy-it talk earlier this year is looking less like a boast and more like a conservative estimate.
GTA 6 launches on November 19 with its marketing machine still likely not in its final form. The only real question left is how many more the next three weeks pull in.