Xbox is "very happy with GTA 6 pre-orders," exec says, claims sales match "our share of the console market"

It's probably safe to assume GTA 6 pre-orders are going well. Rockstar's new crime sandbox, some 13 years in the making, is set to be one of the biggest entertainment launches ever. However, a new report suggests the bulk of the purchases so far are on PlayStation 5, leaving the Xbox Series X version in the dust.

This comes from The Verge, where it's reported that GTA 6 has been pre-ordered much more on the PS5 than the Xbox Series X, compounding existing worries about Microsoft's games division. No percentages or other details are provided.

Matthew Ball, the chief strategy officer of Xbox, responds to the article on Twitter. "We are very happy with GTA 6 pre-orders," he says. "The title is breaking records for Xbox, we expect even more records will be broken throughout the fall, and our internal analysis shows our share of pre-orders to be matching our share of the console market."

To be fair, he would say all of that, the problem is a lot of it doesn't count for much. By "breaking records," I presume he means for overall pre-orders on the Xbox Series X, which seems extremely plausible since it's such a mammoth release. But competition isn't exactly stiff on the neon green system.

We haven't seen many big exclusives from the brand, and of those, lots have been pushed on Game Pass, making their pre-purchases and day one sales seem secondary. "Matching our share of the console market," is fine and dandy until you consider data that has the PS5 out-selling its rival by a pretty hefty portion.

Ball's own tweet has prompted barbs from analysts on the Xbox Series X's performance compared to the PS5. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella writes on Bluesky: "Given what the Xbox share of the console market is, not sure I'd be gushing about anything related to a relative split but that's just me."

Available numbers show Sony's machine boasting up to 80% of a multi-platform game's pre-orders on console. Microsoft has maintained the split on GTA 6 is less than that, but to what degree isn't shared.

The climate at Xbox is pretty bleak at the moment due to extensive restructuring and layoffs. We'll see how the dust settles in the coming months – and how well Rockstar's epic manages to sell.

GTA 6's $400 collectible spoon is actually a reference to another, far more expensive GTA spoon from 18 years ago.