Few games will be watched as closely in 2026 as GTA 6 – and this applies not only to sales figures but also to which console leads in the pre-order race. This week, a report by Verge journalist Tom Warren caused a stir, claiming that internal Xbox sources indicated GTA 6 pre-orders were “heavily skewed toward PS5” – meaning: significantly leaning towards PS5. Warren even spoke of further “alarm bells” for the platform. Now, Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball has directly addressed the issue on X, attempting to calm the waters.
Why are Xbox and PlayStation disputing GTA 6 pre-orders?
The dispute was triggered by figures from market researcher Sensor Tower currently circulating: Of approximately 4.3 million recorded GTA 6 pre-orders, around 77 percent are said to be for PS5, while only about 23 percent go to Xbox Series X|S. To outsiders, this initially reads as a significant lag for Microsoft's console. Ball did not want this perception to go unchallenged after the report began circulating.
What exactly did Xbox strategist Matthew Ball say?
In a direct reply to Tom Warren, Ball wrote verbatim: “Tom, we are very happy with GTA VI pre-orders. 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.” Translated: GTA 6 is breaking Xbox's own records, with more expected to follow throughout the fall, and according to internal analysis, Xbox's share of pre-orders exactly matches the console's overall market share against PlayStation. In other words: Xbox is not losing ground relatively speaking, but performing with GTA 6 as it typically does in the console market.
How should the Xbox vs. PlayStation pre-order dispute be interpreted?
Rivalries between console camps are nothing new for major multiplatform titles – with previous blockbusters, every sales figure was partisanly exploited to make one's own platform look better. What's new here is the tone: instead of remaining silent, Ball publicly confronted the claims – a novelty, as Microsoft rarely comments on internal sales figures. For players, the exchange changes practically nothing; whoever pre-ordered GTA 6 will receive the game regardless of whose numbers are correct. Nevertheless, it remains remarkable how heated the debate over pre-release statistics is, even though neither Sony nor Microsoft has published verified, official figures.
For those who want to delve deeper into the upcoming title beforehand, our overview of open gameplay questions for GTA 6 provides further context, while we recently also reported on how Rockstar has drastically tightened mod rules shortly before launch.
Whether the PS5's pre-order lead is truly confirmed to this extent, or if Ball's assessment is closer to reality, is difficult to verify from the outside – there are no verified figures from Sony or Microsoft yet. More information about the game itself can be found on the official GTA 6 website and in Ball's original statement on X.
https://x.com/ballmatthew/status/2103210685920424384
Source: IGN
What do you think of Ball's counter-argument – pure PR reassurance or a fair assessment of the figures? Let us know in the comments!
Comments (0)
No comments yet — be the first to share your take.