The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 officially opened pre-orders in June this year. Unsurprisingly, this heavyweight sequel, which players have been eagerly awaiting for over a decade, immediately drew massive demand. According to Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, the game’s pre-sales have already reached an unprecedented record. Although they did not disclose exact figures, market analysis firm Sensor Tower is estimating where that number might ultimately land.
In a recent interview with GI.biz, Karl Kontus, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sensor Tower’s Game Insights division, revealed that cumulative pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 could reach 25 million units by its official November launch. Considering that such sales figures represent a peak that many AAA titles struggle to achieve even after years on the market, this performance is set to completely shatter the gaming industry’s existing records.
Moreover, the 25 million pre-orders are projected to generate up to $2 billion in revenue for Rockstar Games, so this analyst believes pre-orders alone could be enough for Grand Theft Auto 6 to break even. Of course, Rockstar Games has not disclosed the production or marketing budget for Grand Theft Auto 6, but the development team must have invested substantial funds over the years of development.
Additionally, the analyst mentioned that the truly massive marketing campaign for *Grand Theft Auto 6* will officially kick off after the Netflix collaboration event on August 28. He also predicted that pre-orders for the game will peak in the week leading up to its official release. Rockstar Games currently offers players two pre-order editions: the standard edition at $80 and the Ultimate Edition at $100, which comes with a wealth of extra bonuses, including weapons, clothing, vehicles, and shops. Surprisingly, the more expensive edition has become the top choice for early pre-order players.
According to data revealed by Karl Kontus, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S players are currently purchasing the $100 Ultimate Edition at astonishing rates of 89% and 90% respectively, meaning roughly nine out of ten initial pre-order players chose the more expensive version. Although both Karl Kontus and Take-Two’s CEO believe the final sales ratio between the Ultimate Edition and Standard Edition will eventually reach 50:50, the choices of initial players remain quite remarkable.
For such a spectacle, Kontus said he had never seen a game’s pricier “premium edition” account for as much as 90% of sales. Previously, he had seen cases reaching 50%, but he stressed that for the vast majority of games, the premium edition share typically falls around 10 to 20%. In other words, Grand Theft Auto 6 has produced the exact opposite situation, and even if that share continues to decline over time, it “will likely still remain significantly above industry standards.”
However, he also stressed that the eventual performance of Grand Theft Auto 6 remains difficult to predict, as the game is bound to be an unprecedented phenomenon, even triggering an exodus across the entire gaming industry that has cleared out the whole November release window just for its arrival.
Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19.
Source: KOCPC Chinese