Will PC be able to compensate for the hugely declined console user base for this game? GTA 5 had a console base of PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox one, PS5, Xbox series X/S. With GTA 6 only having the PS5 and Xbox series X/S console user base, the game is slated to decline heavily from a sales perspective no matter the quality of the game unless PC heavily carries sales for the game for years to come.
Headlines
Grand Theft Auto VI releases 2026-05-26 (UP: Trailer 2 released)
- Thread starter Joseki
- Replies 140
- Views 9,759
- Start date
- Industry News
Overview Discussion (140)
GTAVI will absolutely be released on PS6/next-gen Xbox (and probably PS7/next next-gen Xbox as well).
This is the whole reason Series S failed though. A huge part of GTA 6 hype is as usual, the graphics. If it was built on GTA 5 engine could you honestly see it getting this hype? You dont want a low fidelity version of this.
I just realized 512GB Series S is 379 and there are 1 TB PS5 with a game SKU's around for $399 rn lol. Cant defend the Series S at that point.
Anyways as I keep posting I think everyone expects a price rise on PS5 soon, we are looking to May 14 Sony reporting date. But it is strange since their seems to be talk of a 399 PS5 BO6 bundle?
Right now for 399 PS5 I see an Astro Bot bundle at Wal Mart. Fully in stock. It's weird that never took off, it's only 500 sold which is less than WM's reporting max of 1k units. But I feel like it is clearing out the last of those, they have been gone from Amazon. i have noted wal mart has regional stock as well. because it's in stock for me doesnt mean in stock nationwide.
Oh I meant to note it is great rockstar put the ps5 disclaimer on the trailer, heightens the hype for what they are doing, it is not running on a gtx 5090 or something, but that is "real" as people will experience it on Ps5, which is a slightly lower rung than even Series X perhaps. So yeah other than the Series S version, it is a real floor. Good stuff.
It’s probably by design… Microsoft has stated they lose a good amount of money on the series s consoles. There’s no reason for them to need to do bundles.
Even if by some chance they got marketing it would probably be the series x like Diablo was
I dont think MS could even be in play for marketing on this being they're no longer really a mainstream console. And the Series marketing history.
Plus they seem to put all their money in Gamepass.
True but even in that long term perspective, that is a hugely declined console user base to the three combined generations of PS and Xbox that got GTA 5, also from the perspective that next gen Xbox will sell pitiful numbers compared to the days of Xbox 360 or even Xbox one. Meaning realistically everything regarding GTA 6 sales mostly hinges on PS5/PS6 and PC.
I figure it will be a long seller and create huge buzz for the console industry in general and there’s still the Switch 2 wild card. The real question is if they will wait another 13 years for the next one or do a 4 5 year cycle for the IP. I never understood why it took 13 years to make a new one.
It just seems to be a Mario Kart 8 situation (The game just continued selling which meant no major reason to make a new game until well over 10 years).
Because Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.
this is built on the GTA5 engine, with enhancements designed for current gen systems. and people would absolutely want a low fidelity version of this game if it means they can play it. Series S's problem isn't "people don't want low settings games", it's "people don't want an Xbox"
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Consoles, and most of all Playstation, carries GTA not PC. T2 revenue is 75-80% console, thats a big reason why PC is not prioritised.
PS5 will continue to sell and until we get clear figures on the dual ownership rate, saying the next gen base will decline is wholly dubious.
Not to mention, GTA is a subset of the Playstation audience, its not like all 120-130M PS owners have bought GTA. There is growth to be had even within the console audience.
Ok, you caught me on the engine thing, technically, but you can know what I mean. If you observe the hype around GTA6 and think it would be the same if it looked like GTA 5 I dont know what to tell you. It's not reality though. Graphics are a huge part of core gaming. GTA VI looks, well it's the best looking game ever. That's a huge part of it. Inseparable, probably. I'll never forget, graphics started COD, the biggest franchise in all core gaming except maybe gta (and i have no idea which generates more revenue, i would think maybe cod?). The first thing anybody knew about MW was holy crap, how does it look so good and at 60 FPS? I was there. Another example I always think of Forza, everything about Forza is wow, look at these graphics, look at these clean, pristine, cutting edge 60 FPS visuals. It's such as hard thing to be like, here, now buy this on Series S but it's blurry. Buy everything we didnt sell it on.
I remember when the Leaker Kepler said there was a low power PS6 SKU, at that time people didnt know if it meant a Series S style PS6 SKU or a handheld (seems to be a handheld now). The overwhelming sentiment was, please no low power PS6. That is proof way more than rhetoric, people know a low power SKU is damaging. And 1000%, not only to Xbox.
I just disagree on Series S problem. Especially given people dont look at $350 and $450 disposable purchase (as we see now and I predicted, there is little real cost difference in a Series S, PS5 is currently the same price at full power) as all that different, but I've been through my thoughts on that too many times!
Last edited:
it's more reality than people buying games because they look great. it gets tongues wagging, for sure, but GTA5 isn't one of the best selling games year on year because it looks pretty. it's one of the best selling games year on year because it's GTA and the quality that comes with that. if GTA6 was GTA5 level assets, with all the ray tracing fixings the pc version has (which probably came from GTA6 even) but tweaked art style to match Vice City, it'd still have 80M views for the second trailer. people like graphics, but they like GTA more
so why isn't the Series X the better selling system? it's stronger and has a measurable improvement over PS5. why has Switch been selling well despite it being the weakest system on the market? people screaming on the internet doesn't reflect reality. never has. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was still a best sell, Pokemon Sword and Shield was the second best selling pokemon games, and Switch 1 shot out the gate like a horse with a rocket in its ass
that's part of the "people don't want an Xbox" problem. people will spend that money on a weaker system before they did an xbox. and that weaker system had worse versions of the games xbox had or none of them at all!
Has Rockstar a track record about this? IMHO publishers said when a trailer was captured on PS4 Pro or Xbox One X and not the standard Model
- Pronouns
- He
Damn
Did that ever happened? But anyway, Xb1 and PS4 could not output to 4k, so if your trailer wanted that shinny 4k logo it needed the other versions.
That would be like saying Nintendo released Donkey Kong Bananza so Mario Oddesey will skip this gen.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was a gigantic production that used up most of Rockstar's resources. They are still a "produce 1 game at a time" studio.
Donkey Kong Bananza and the next 3D Mario will be big games but nowhere near as gigantic of a production as a modern Rockstar game. Also, Super Mario Odyssey released nearly 8 years ago (and Bowser's Fury was a small side project) so it's not at all unfeasible that both Bananza and the next 3D Mario will release on the Switch 2.
Last edited:
Pointer Sister is just great music. Jump is another classic.
From the recent Chris' articles:
CD Projekt Red: “Nintendo’s audience is different to what it used to be”
The Cyberpunk 2077 developer on Switch 2 and why you shouldn’t “underestimate the physical edition”
www.thegamebusiness.com
GTA 6 delay is good news for Nintendo and bad news for Star Wars | Here’s The Dring
2025 is likely to be another down year for the console game industry
www.thegamebusiness.com
Microsoft loses money with every console sold. Amy Hood simply made the calculations and the numbers showed Xbox will make more money by dismantling their own store and dedicated hardware and selling their games on all platforms, it's really that simple.
They are actively taking actions to sell as little hardware as possible. No point trying to find ulterior motives as I really doubt it was a choice made internally at Xbox for starters. It likely comes from the CFO, hence the confusion - that's very reasonable - .
GTA 5 sold about 200 million copies, due to being available on so many platforms. That won't be the case for GTA 6. Even if it sold to every single Xbox series X/S and PS5 user, it would only be half the total sales of GTA 5. That naturally means that the rise of PC gaming will be the decider when it comes to GTA 6 sales trajectory.
if you are comparing th esales with GTA5, you should totally enlarge the lifespan of GTA6 into next gen, considering also additional sales on PS6, XboxAlly and PC
so, I think that GTA6 will destroy GTA5 launch debut sales, and about legs it will be a VERY LONG race I don't want to think about now: we can come back to it in 6 years from now
GTA VI will be available in many platforms in the next 10 years, what are you even talking about.
But all of the available console platforms except maybe PS6 is slated to collapse next gen compared to this gen. And the amount of double dippers will collapse compared to how it was for GTA 5, when a lot of people bought the game both on PS3, Xbox 360 and PS4 and Xbox one. People that buy GTA 6 on PS5 will carry it over to PS6. There is simply no way for GTA 6 sales to get close to GTA 5 unless PC continues to grow the coming 10 years. Its a numbers game and PS5 and PS6 will simply not get close to the install base of PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox one, PS5, Xbox series X/S that GTA 5 had available to it.
Important to mention that in no way am i predicting GTA 6 will fail, it will do huge numbers. My point is simply that the console install base differences makes it impossible for GTA 6 to get close to GTA 5 sales figures, unless PC can change the install base configuration to GTA 6 favour.
This is what I told you the last time:
Either you show genuine improvements on how you engage with other members, or you'll get moderated.
200 million over its lifetime. Launch sales were like 25 million on the PS3 and 360 and GTA as a franchise has only gotten more popular since then. Based on the hype, I'd say it blows past GTA V launch sales. Lifetime sales aren't even worth thinking about, GTA is an evergreen seller. It'll be a top 5 seller on both consoles for the next decade. same when it eventually comes to PC.
Double dipping also is irrelevant at this point. The PS5 version of GTA V has been one of the best selling games every year even though it was on PS4. New gamers are always buying GTA looking at the data
Now what about the PS4/Xbox One GTA V launch the following year which I believe came with GTA online that never released for PS3/360 versions? Thats Danny's point and why none of the posters that responded to Danny mention this. Everyone agrees GTA 6 will launch higher than GTA 5 on PS3/360 but it's up against GTA 5 launch on PS3/360 & PS4/One. That is where the potential to fall behind comes into play along with tariffs possibly making the current consoles $600.00 plus devices (Xbox series already is lol). Next gen (PS6/Nextbox) arent releasing in just a year either so by the time GTA 6 releases on those consoles we are looking at an even older GTA 6 with less incentive to double dip. We are looking at possibly a $80 to $100 game selling $600.00 - $800.00 consoles and you all are claiming Danny doesn't have a point? There are certainly reasons to be concerns.
I mean if it doesn't sell 200 million lifetime, then that'll be fine but GTA 7 will take even longer to make but the game sells like crazy even without the double dipping factor. It'll have insanely long legs just like GTA 5 did. No one can really predict total legs and GTA 5 itself was an abberation but I see no reason to think that GTA 6 isn't going to have insane sales and make billions in profits, a number that would make up for slightly less unit sales due to the reasons people bring up. I don't think Rockstar would be worried
But neither Danny or I are contesting any of this. Danny simply stated that topping 200 million like GTA 5 could be much harder this time because I agree with Danny on the double dipping being downplayed heavily. Certain posters tend to get sensitive about GTA and the defense force tried to paint Danny as if they were trolling. Danny expressed reasonable concerns because of what we are seeing today.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Danny does not have a point.
GTA6 is an evergreen that will sell throughout PS5's lifecycle and throughout PS6. The longer GTA7 takes the more GTA6 will sell.
The only question is when will GTA7 release to know how big GTA6's sales will be.
Danny does have a point because a $600.00 PS5 and PS6 leading to a declining PS brand along with Xbox brand dying is bad for GTA. GTA 6 will likely have more time yes but if the gaming market is possibly shrinking and less double dipping, then more time might mean nothing. GTA 6's price might not look good either.
GTA VI launch sales will be insane, but in the long run we can't dismiss the possibility of the game simply not generate the same level of continuous interest that GTA V did.
So instead of selling 200m again, maybe it will sell 150m, 100m...but of course it can be the opposite and sell even better than GTA V.
So instead of selling 200m again, maybe it will sell 150m, 100m...but of course it can be the opposite and sell even better than GTA V.
Last edited:
GTA Online was also massively boosted by Covid in 2020 too. That was when the whole roleplaying stuff in the game really exploded, with the pandemic. It's entirely possible VI ends up selling fewer copies than V in the long term - I think we all agree it'll likely sell more units at launch- .
GTA 6 in 2026 also seems more technologically demanding than GTA V in 2013. Max Payne 3, The Last of Us, Halo 4 and Gears of War: Judgment all arguably looked better than GTA V in its original 2013 version. I don't see many games that look better than GTA 6. This might limit adoption amongst PC players.
GTA 6 in 2026 also seems more technologically demanding than GTA V in 2013. Max Payne 3, The Last of Us, Halo 4 and Gears of War: Judgment all arguably looked better than GTA V in its original 2013 version. I don't see many games that look better than GTA 6. This might limit adoption amongst PC players.
To be fair, whenever it comes out on PC the hardware that the average PC gamer has will be higher than it is today.
Assuming the game comes within a year of launch, the minimum level will probably be something like a 3060. And that's already the second most popular gpu on steam (recently dethroned)
Counterpoint: It has to run on an Xbox Series S.
Also I believe GTA5 on PC was released in 2015, oh and Max Payne 3 was pretty well optimized.
The Xbox Series S runs Cyberpunk 2077 at 60 FPS; the PS3 GTA V had to run on struggled running Far Cry 3 at literally 21 FPS.
Well I was assuming it would come out on PC just a year after consoles like RDR2, but it is true it could come later like GTA V - like Guarabyra points out - .
