Xbox Responds to Reports That GTA 6 Pre-Orders Are Better on PS5

Xbox has responded to reports that it is unhappy with GTA 6 pre-orders on its consoles. Microsoft denies being concerned about PlayStation 5’s larger share and says Grand Theft Auto VI is already breaking pre-order records for Xbox.

Microsoft Denies Report About GTA 6 Pre-Orders on Xbox

The Verge’s Tom Warren recently reported that Xbox was worried about low GTA 6 pre-order numbers on its platform. However, Xbox CSO Matthew Ball has now directly responded to the report, calling it “untrue.” The Microsoft executive also claimed that the Rockstar title is breaking records for Xbox.

“Not true. 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.”

Warren then asked Ball what he meant by Xbox’s “share of the console market.” At the time of writing, Ball has not clarified. Regardless, the executive says Xbox is happy with its GTA 6 pre-order numbers and expects the game to break more records this fall.

What Is Xbox’s Share of GTA 6 Pre-Orders?

At the time of writing, Microsoft, Sony, and Rockstar have not released official Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order numbers. However, Sensor Tower’s GTA 6 sales tracker estimates that PlayStation accounts for 77% of sales, compared with 23% for Xbox.

According to the tracker, that works out to an estimated 4.35 million units on PlayStation and 1.30 million on Xbox as of September 22. Those figures have not been confirmed by the platform holders or Rockstar, so take them with a grain of salt. Ball’s response also doesn’t dispute that PlayStation has the larger share. His point is that Xbox’s share of GTA 6 pre-orders matches its share of the console market.

One interesting takeaway from this exchange between Ball and Warren is that Xbox is becoming more vocal about pushing back on reports. This isn’t the first time Ball has done so.

Back in June, there were reports claiming that Xbox was considering reversing its decision to bring more games to other platforms. In a series of posts on X, Ball said the rumors were false and that Xbox had not held internal discussions about reversing the strategy. For the time being, Microsoft says it is happy with GTA 6 pre-orders on Xbox, despite The Verge’s report.

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