If you’ve been treating the GTA 6 pre-order charts as a final verdict, Xbox wants you to calm down.
Matthew Ball, chief strategy officer at Xbox, posted on X to reject the suggestion that Microsoft is “unhappy with the GTA 6 numbers on Xbox.” Platform holders rarely respond to a sales rumor head-on, and Ball didn’t soften his answer.
“Tom, we are very happy with GTA VI pre-orders. The title is breaking records for XBOX, we expect even more records will be broken throughout the fall, and our internal analysis shows our share of pre-orders to be matching our share of the console market,” Ball said.
How the worry began
None of this came from Rockstar or Take-Two. It started with third-party data: Sensor Tower, an analytics firm, reported that PS5 pre-orders for GTA 6 are well ahead of those on Xbox consoles, by a ratio as high as 3-to-1.
After that, a tech outlet published an unverified report that spread quickly online. The version that circulated on social media read: “Xbox is reportedly very concerned that GTA VI preorders are heavily skewed toward PS5.”
Ball was answering that line. And as soon as it started circulating, the console-war arguments started up again, right on cue.
What the split actually looks like
This is where the story gets less dramatic than it first sounded. Sensor Tower estimates that Xbox makes up 23% of GTA 6 pre-orders, or about 1.3 million copies and $128 million in revenue.
The remaining 77% goes to PS5, which accounts for 4.35 million copies and $426 million in revenue.
The gap is large. But the most obvious explanation covers it: far more PS5 consoles have been sold, so more players are pre-ordering on PS5. Ball’s claim, drawn from Microsoft’s internal analysis, makes the same point in more corporate terms.
Official statements versus estimates
It helps to keep track of who said what. The 3-to-1 ratio and the copy and revenue figures are estimates from Sensor Tower. The “very concerned” framing came from a report. The only official statement is Ball’s, and it comes from Xbox, not Rockstar.
Grand Theft Auto VI is set to launch on November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Microsoft says it’s happy with how Rockstar’s game is doing on its hardware, and Ball expects the fall to bring more records.
In his words: “We are very happy with GTA VI pre-orders.” He added no caveats.