Grand Theft Auto VI isn’t even out yet, and the game is probably on the way to grossing the GDP of a small country. It shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody that the most anticipated video game of all time might actually end up becoming the most successful game — at least on its launch
A new report claims Rockstar’s magnum opus could have generated as much as $1 billion in pre-order revenue during its first hour on sale, which would put it in genuinely absurd company and would mean it’s fair to estimate it’s already outgrossed The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the year’s highest-grossing movie. It’s important to note that the figure hasn’t been officially confirmed yet by Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive, so it should be treated as an estimate rather than a final sales total. Still, it’s based on the kind of early market movement everyone expected from the most anticipated game in the world. Looks like Vice City is about to get a pretty big boost to its economy with new tourists.
Researcher and University of Virginia Darden School of Business professor Anthony Palomba said Take-Two’s stock shifted sharply when pre-orders opened, with the company’s shares rising by almost 3% in early trading.
“Take-Two shares rose almost 3% in early trading when pre-orders opened, and some analysts modeled as much as $1 billion in revenue in the first hour alone.”
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That estimate would be especially wild when compared with Grand Theft Auto V, which took around three days to reach $1 billion in sales following its 2013 launch. Of course, GTA 6 has a higher entry price, which helps explain why the new game could potentially reach the mark much faster, but it still speaks to the sheer size of the demand surrounding Rockstar’s next release.
Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, took three days to reach $1 billion following its 2013 launch. GTA VI has a higher price point, with the standard edition costing $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition priced at $99.99, but reaching that level of revenue through pre-orders alone would still be a staggering result.
It looks like pre-orders — which is a nonsense in itself because it’s a digital-only game, so it’s not like it can sell out — have already passed 39 million copies, although Take-Two has not released official numbers and there is no reliable way to independently verify that total yet. The game sees Rockstar returning players to Vice City and the wider state of Leonida, based on Miami and Florida as a whole, respectively. It follows Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, a Bonnie and Clyde for the next generation.
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