Analyst says GTA 6 preorders alone could hit $2 billion, enough to cover the whole dev budget
Sensor Tower dropped some wild numbers today. Their video game insights guy, Karl Kontus, thinks GTA 6 preorders could reach 25 million units by launch. That's not a typo. 25 million copies before the game even comes out.
At an average price somewhere between the $80 standard and $100 Ultimate edition, that works out to around $2 billion in revenue. Kontus says that would cover the entire production budget and most of the marketing spend. Rockstar hasn't confirmed any budget figures obviously, but we all know this thing cost a fortune to make. The fact that preorders alone might pay for it is insane.
Right now, 89% of preorders are for the $100 Ultimate Edition. That's the one with all the exclusive vehicles, weapons, and that custom mod shop. Kontus thinks that split will even out closer to 50/50 as we get nearer to launch, but still. People are throwing money at the premium version without even seeing the full marketing push yet.
Speaking of which, the real campaign hasn't even started. The extended look on August 27th is expected to kick everything into high gear, and Kontus says the majority of preorders will come in the final week before November 19. So these numbers are just the early adopters. The hype is already at a level most games never reach, and Rockstar hasn't even begun to properly flex.
What's interesting is how they structured the Ultimate Edition. It's not just some throwaway cosmetics. You're getting actual vehicles, weapons, a mod shop. For a lot of people, this is the one game they'll buy this year, so they're going all in. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't try a $150 tier. Feels like they left money on the table, but maybe they didn't want to push it too far before the marketing blitz.
Source: GameSpot · Curated content.