GTA 6 has an estimated 7.7 million digital pre-orders, three in four on PS5, says Sensor Tower

Grand Theft Auto VI has about 7.71 million digital pre-orders on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, worth about $751 million, according to an estimate from the analytics firm Sensor Tower. Kotaku and Dexerto reported the figures from the firm's GTA VI sales tracker on Nov. 4, 15 days before launch.

It's the biggest number anyone has put on GTA 6's pre-orders so far, and it doesn't come from Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two has said only that pre-orders got off to an exceptional start, without numbers. It reports its next quarterly results on Monday, Nov. 9.

What Sensor Tower estimates

More than $100 million of that revenue came in the last two weeks, Dexerto reported. Kotaku says the tracker shows pre-orders picking up after An Extended Look, the 26-minute gameplay video that premiered on Netflix on Aug. 27.

US console sales leaned the same way in September. PS5 unit sales jumped 22%, Bloomberg reported from Circana's data, while Xbox Series consoles had their lowest September ever, as we covered in our story on the games that moved out of GTA 6's way.

What the estimate leaves out

• Boxed copies. The figures cover digital pre-orders only. The boxed version of GTA 6 is a download code with no disc, in stores from Nov. 12.
• Cancellations. A pre-order isn't a sale until launch, and players can still cancel before Nov. 19. On PlayStation, starting the Nov. 10 pre-load ends the right to a refund; our cancellation guide has the rules for each store.
• The edition mix. $751 million over 7.71 million copies comes to about $97 a copy. In the US, the Standard Edition costs $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition $99.99. Neither report says how Sensor Tower counts the two editions or prices in other currencies; our price guide has both editions' prices in 63 countries.

How it compares with GTA V

GTA V's numbers came from Take-Two itself, after launch. The company said the game's retail sales passed $800 million worldwide on its first day, Sept. 17, 2013, and $1 billion in its first three days, both by its own estimates. Those count sales once the game was out, so they don't line up with an outside estimate of digital pre-orders two weeks before release.

What Take-Two has said

When it reported results on Aug. 7, Take-Two told investors it had an "exceptional start to pre-orders" and gave no figures. It said nothing more specific when stockholders met on Sept. 17, as our story on the meeting reported.

Its next report comes after the stock market closes on Monday, Nov. 9, with a call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Take-Two hasn't said whether it will give a pre-order number then. Our preview of the Nov. 9 report has what to listen for.

GTA 6 comes out Nov. 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with pre-loading from Nov. 10. Every pre-order and purchase before Nov. 20 gets the Vintage Vice City Pack, and our editions guide has what each edition includes.