Analyst firm Newzoo has pushed back on viral social media claims that GTA 6 pre-orders have already exceeded $1bn, calling the figure "absurd" and impossible given typical pre-order patterns some 21 weeks before launch. The clarification matters because it corrects an inflated narrative while still confirming that Rockstar's forthcoming sandbox game is on track to set a genuine record for pre-order performance, underlining the sheer scale of anticipation ahead of its release.

According to Newzoo's actual data, players spent around $180m on digital pre-orders across the US and Europe in the final week of June, which the firm projects translates to roughly $260m in global first-week revenue once other regions are included. Extrapolating from these figures and GTA 5's historical sales distribution, Newzoo estimates GTA 6 could ultimately generate between $3.25bn and $5.2bn in its launch week, with a central estimate of about $4.5bn from around 51m units sold – potentially surpassing GTA 5's famous $1bn-in-three-days haul from 2014. The game launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on 19th November, with no PC version or physical copies available at launch.