According to a research company, Grand Theft Auto VI could bring in more than $3 billion in total revenues during the first 12 months after launch. A report from Financial Times cites data from DFC Intelligence that says GTA 6 could bring in $3.2 billion in its first year and that the game is likely to surpass $1 billion in preorder revenue alone.
David Cole of DFC Intelligence told GameSpot that the long-term success of GTA 5 could help GTA 6 get off to a faster start. Cole noted that GTA 5 actually saw its overall revenues increase in its seventh, eighth, and ninth years on the market, with annual revenue reaching more than $1 billion in the eighth and ninth years on the market.
For GTA 6, the $3.2 billion prediction includes physical and digital sales, along with online microtransactions. Cole said GTA 6 should exceed $1 billion via preorders alone, with GTA 6 potentially selling 40 million copies in its first year and 100 million by 2030. Cole also predicted new versions of GTA 6 will come to the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC, helping improve sales overall.
“We think GTA 6 will do a better job generating revenue right out of the gate. So first-year sales are forecasted at a modest 40 million units with total unit sales going to 100 million by the end of year five,” Cole said. “Note that the game is forecasted to launch new versions as new consoles release and PC version comes. This timing is somewhat uncertain but is why there will be bump somewhere around years three or four.”
To be clear, no new Xbox or PlayStation consoles have been announced, but there are already reports about the PlayStation 6, while rumors suggest the next Xbox console could include a handheld component. Nintendo is expected to release a new console in 2025, but whether or not GTA 6 shows up for it remains to be seen. GTA 5 was not released on the Switch. As for a PC edition of GTA 6, it is expected to be released after the game arrives for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
GTA 6 earning a mountain of money would be one of the least-surprising pieces of news in video game history. After all, it’s the sequel to one of the world’s most popular video games, and hype for the open-world title is already massive and continues to grow.
For comparison, GTA 5 earned $1 billion in revenue after just 72 hours on sale back in September 2013. This did not include any GTA Online revenue, either, as GTA Online did not release until October 2013. A major unknown about GTA 6 is what it could offer in terms of an online experience, and what might happen to the existing GTA Online when GTA 6 comes out. GTA Online is, of course, a huge money-maker and it’s expected that GTA 6 will have a significant online element to help drive ongoing revenue.
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick told FT that he would “never claim victory before it occurs.” However, Zelnick said he feels confident that Rockstar Games will release “something absolutely phenomenal.”
GTA 6 has been in development for many years already, though it wasn’t until February 2022 that Rockstar Games officially acknowledged the game’s existence. The FT report cited estimates for the game’s development costs (it didn’t mention marketing costs) as being between the “high hundreds of millions” to more than $2 billion, including costs for the game’s expected post-launch updates.
GTA 6 has enormous shoes to fill, as GTA 5 has sold more than 205 million copies, making it the No. 3 best-selling game ever, only behind Minecraft and Tetris.
GTA 6 is officially set for launch in Fall 2025, a window that Take-Two has committed to on multiple occasions. Some believe the game may slip to 2026, in part because every Rockstar game from the past decade has been delayed beyond its original publicly announced date. Others believe the game might have already been delayed internally, based on reports that GTA 6 has missed multiple internal deadlines.
What we do know is that Rockstar went an entire year without uttering a peep about GTA 6. The game’s first trailer debuted in December 2023. Many expected Rockstar to release the next trailer at some point in 2024, but that did not happen, despite the so-called evidence that fans believe they discovered. Zelnick recently said he understands fans are growing impatient, but Rockstar refuses to release the game until it’s ready.
