Grand Theft Auto VI found itself mired in a little bit of controversy regarding platform sales over the weekend.
On Saturday, IGN shared data indicating that IGN readers were pre-ordering the PlayStation 5 version of GTA VI substantially more than the Xbox Series version, by a ratio of 8-to-1. IGN’s social post made it explicitly clear that this data was based on IGN’s own affiliate link data, meaning it is not representative of the gaming community as a whole. For what it’s worth, Mashable’s own affiliate data shows a similarly stark split between PS5 and Xbox pre-orders.
(Disclosure: IGN and Mashable have the same parent company, Ziff Davis.)
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Regardless, it became enough of a story that Microsoft felt the need to respond to it. A spokesperson told Windows Central that IGN’s data should not be taken as a definitive account of what’s happening with GTA VI pre-orders. By Monday morning, Microsoft’s GTA VI pre-order rebuttal statement was a trending Google search term.
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“This doesn’t represent pre-order data. We’ve had record orders,” Microsoft told Windows Central in a statement. “People should wait for real data and not clicks on affiliate links.”
There’s a decent possibility that two things are true here. First, Microsoft is almost certainly seeing huge numbers of pre-orders for GTA VI because it is one of the most hyped video games in many, many years (if not in the history of gaming). Second, the PS5 version most likely is being pre-ordered more than the Xbox version (even if it’s not by an 8-to-1 ratio) because the PS5 has been a significantly more successful console than the Xbox Series machines. Sony has confirmed more than 93 million lifetime unit sales for the PS5, and while Microsoft does not share official sales data anymore, recent estimates put the Xbox Series consoles in the neighborhood of 35 million units.
Sony and Rockstar have also entered into some kind of marketing partnership for the game, with the developer boasting that GTA VI “plays best” on PS5 earlier this month. It’s safe to assume that millions of people will play the game on Xbox, as Microsoft suggested, but it’s also safe to assume more people will play the title on PS5.
After years of anticipation and repeated delays, Rockstar Games officially opened Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders on June 25, ahead of a Nov. 19 release date.
