A new figure from analytics firm Sensor Tower puts real numbers behind something Take-Two itself won't confirm: just how lopsided GTA VI's pre-order split really is. Sensor Tower reports that 89% of pre-orders so far have gone to the $100 Ultimate Edition rather than the $80 Standard Edition - a gap the firm says it has never seen at this scale before.
Sensor Tower puts the typical premium-edition uptake for a big release somewhere between 10% and 20% of total pre-orders. GTA VI is running at roughly four to eight times that rate, and the pattern holds across both launch platforms - about 90% of Xbox pre-order buyers and 88.5% of PlayStation buyers are choosing the Ultimate Edition over the cheaper option.
Sensor Tower analyst Karl Kontus points to the Ultimate Edition's actual contents as the likely driver, rather than the usual cosmetic-bundle padding premium game editions often ship with. GTA VI's $100 tier includes real gameplay additions - extra vehicles, weapons, and a dedicated mod shop - which Kontus argues gives dedicated fans a genuine reason to pay up, not just a shinier box.
Kontus expects that share to come down well before release. Most of GTA VI's marketing push hasn't even started yet, and the bulk of pre-orders typically land in the final stretch before launch, once casual buyers - who skew far more toward the cheaper edition - start piling in. His expectation is that the two editions end up much closer to an even split by the time the game actually ships, even though the Ultimate Edition will likely still be selling well above what's normal for a premium tier.
On raw volume, Kontus is skeptical of extrapolating too aggressively from current pace. Simple trajectory math off today's roughly 4 million pre-orders would suggest a launch total north of 40 million, but he expects the real figure to land closer to 25 million once the frontloaded early rush is accounted for - a number he still calls historically unprecedented. For scale, Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly reached around 8 million pre-orders by its own launch. Twenty-five million units, split roughly as Sensor Tower describes, would put pre-launch sales in the neighborhood of $2 billion before the game is even out.
This is third-party analyst data and forward-looking predictions, not a confirmed figure from Take-Two itself (which has said it isn't sharing its own raw numbers) - so it's tagged analysis. Reporting via GamesIndustry.biz (Lewis Packwood), citing Sensor Tower analyst Karl Kontus.