Grand Theft Auto 6 will undoubtedly be a sales juggernaut when it launches later this year, but through pre-orders alone, the game will likely outsell most other major games. One of the most anticipated games of all time, Grand Theft Auto 6, could earn over $1 billion (approximately Rs. 8,577 crore) from pre-orders before it launches on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X in the fall of 2025, a research firm has predicted. The open-world game is reportedly expected to bring in more than $3 billion in revenue for Take-Two Interactive in its first year.
Analysts say GTA 6 will break sales records
Analysts at video game market research firm DFC Intelligence told the Financial Times that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 could exceed $1 billion. To put that into perspective, Grand Theft Auto V brought in $1 billion in revenue within three days of release.
The Financial Times quoted DFC as saying that GTA 6 is expected to generate revenue of $3.2 billion (approximately Rs. 27,450 crore) in the first 12 months of release. This figure will be twice the revenue of “GTA 5” during the same period. The report states that GTA 6’s expected outperformance will make it the biggest entertainment product in 2025, surpassing the year’s top-grossing movies and other media releases.
In fact, the next game from Rockstar Games, like any other media franchise, video game or movie, has raised expectations that it may well become the biggest entertainment product ever, an expectation echoed by IDG Consulting, another gaming-focused consulting firm.
“We think this is going to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, not just in gaming but across all media,” IDG Consulting CEO Yoshio Osaki told the Financial Times. “The pent-up demand is greater than anything we’ve seen before.”
Rockstar parent company Take-Two is preparing for the release of “GTA 6” and the resulting boost to fiscal 2026 earnings. While the game is expected to break all sales records, Take-Two’s CEO has tried to temper the lofty expectations.
“I never declare victory before it happens. That said, I think Rockstar Games will deliver something absolutely extraordinary again… and of course expectations are high,” he told the Financial Times.
Zelnick said last year that he was “very confident” that GTA 6 would launch in the fall of 2025. Rockstar has not yet confirmed a release date for the game, so GTA is not yet available for pre-order on PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
Grand Theft Auto games have always set a high benchmark for sales in the gaming industry and beyond. Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on PS3 and Xbox One in 2013 and is one of the most successful entertainment products of all time, generating over $8.5 billion in revenue. The game has sold over 205 million copies and remains popular across platforms more than a decade after its release. Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 is an open-world western game released in 2018 and is one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 67 million copies sold.
