Thirteen years after its predecessor, Rockstar Games arrives with Grand Theft Auto VI on Nov. 19, backed by roughly $1.18 billion in digital preorders as surveyed consumers request time off from work or school.
GTA VI Preorders Exceed Previous Sales Records
Grand Theft Auto V generated $800 million in sales during its first 24 hours in 2013, according to Take-Two Interactive’s earnings release. The new installment is on pace to surpass those figures. Sensor Tower estimates that GTA VI logged approximately 12.1 million digital preorders worth about $1.18 billion as of the morning of Nov. 13, fortune.com reported.
Those preorders alone exceed the roughly $1.01 billion that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie grossed worldwide, according to The Numbers’ 2026 worldwide box office chart. Analysts estimate that Take-Two has spent between $1 billion and $1.5 billion on development, fortune.com reported on CEO Strauss Zelnick’s bet.
Take-Two maintained its projected net bookings of $8 billion to $8.2 billion for the fiscal year concluding in March earlier this month, noting that advance orders were tracking well ahead of projections. Fans are clearing their schedules, as 29% of nearly 1,500 users surveyed by digital marketplace G2A.com said they had requested time off from work or school to play the game, fortune.com reported.
G2A Preorders Surge as Publishers Delay Releases
G2A reported that its preorders surged 152% week over week in the most recent seven days. G2A founder Bartosz Skwarczek told fortune.com, “GTA VI is much more than a game launch. It’s a global cultural moment that shows just how deeply gaming has become part of people’s lives.”
Zelnick has called GTA VI the “most anticipated entertainment property of all time,” and rival publishers have largely moved their releases out of its way. Colan Neese, senior vice president of gaming at research firm Screen Engine/ASI, told fortune.com, “This Fall has been the most depressed Fall we’ve ever seen in terms of game volume.”
Neese added, “Basically every game that was going to come out this Fall tried to release in September and then it just fell off a cliff in October.” Blizzard launched World of Warcraft: Forever on Nov. 4, and Nintendo launched its Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nov. 5.
Multigenerational Audience Pull
Neese said that GTA VI’s shadow could stretch into the new year, pointing to Sony, which pushed God of War Laufey from Feb. 16 to May 20, 2027. Hollywood is also feeling the squeeze as The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens Nov. 20, the day after GTA VI, testing a thin November box office, fortune.com reported.
Neese explained the demographic reach by stating, “Grand Theft Auto VI is a unicorn game because it’s reaching elder millennials and young Gen Xers who grew up on Grand Theft Auto III through Grand Theft Auto V.”
He continued, “Then you have an entire generation who only had one Grand Theft Auto game, which is Gen Z.” Between GTA V and VI, Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018, which has shipped more than 89 million units.
| Metric | GTA V (2013 Launch) | GTA VI (2026 Preorders) |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Sales / Preorders | $800 million (first 24 hours) | $1.18 billion (as of Nov. 13) |
| Digital Preorder Volume | Not publicly reported | 12.1 million units |
| Estimated Budget | Significantly lower | $1 billion to $1.5 billion |
Neese described the technical development of the upcoming title by stating, “They purposely built a new engine. They’ve made it incredibly realistic.” Former Take-Two CEO Ben Feder argued in fortune.com this week that GTA VI will be the last pre-AI blockbuster video game of its kind.
Data from the Entertainment Software Association’s 2026 Essential Facts publication shows that domestic spending on video games reached $60.7 billion in 2025, compared to approximately $21 billion back in 2013. The exact same publication tallies 212.3 million video game players in America, whereas 53% of adults in the United States reported to the Pew Research Center in 2025 that they attended a movie theater during the prior year.
Neese concluded, “Part of the challenge with gaming adaptations for the longest time was that you had a generation of people who never actually played or experienced the IP. Now, they have a relationship to it.”
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
