The Verge says pre-orders skew heavily to PS5; Xbox replies its share of pre-orders matches its market share. Which is the same thing, said another way.
Every big multiplatform launch ends up in the same fight: where people buy it. With GTA 6 it has arrived early, almost two months before release.
What The Verge reported
On 24 September, The Verge reported, citing sources inside Xbox, that GTA 6 pre-orders are "heavily skewed" towards PS5. It gave no percentages or figures.
Xbox's reply
That same day its chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, replied on X: they are "very happy" with pre-orders, the game "is breaking records for Xbox", they expect more records in the fall, and their internal analysis shows their share of pre-orders matches their share of the console market.
Why both can be true
Look at Ball's last line: "our share of pre-orders matches our share of the console market". Since PS5 has sold far more units than Xbox Series, that means precisely that PS5 takes most of the pre-orders. Ball does not refute The Verge: he reframes it.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella put it drily: given Xbox's share, he would not be bragging about the split. And "breaking records" is easy to believe: it is probably the most pre-ordered game ever on any platform.
"Plays best on PlayStation 5"
One detail feeds the sense that PS5 has the edge: the official game site carries a "Plays best on PlayStation 5" badge, with no mention of Xbox in that spot. That is standard in Sony marketing deals and says nothing technical about the game.
What it means for you
Nothing practical. The game launches the same day on both consoles and Rockstar has announced no exclusive content for either. If you are on Xbox, the pre-order split costs you nothing.
Are there official pre-order figures?
No. Neither Rockstar, Sony nor Microsoft has published numbers.
Is the PS5 version better?
Nothing suggests so. "Plays best on PS5" is a marketing line, not a technical spec.
Sources: The Verge's report and Xbox's reply via Push Square and GamesRadar, which also carries the Circana analyst's comment; the PS5 badge on the official GTA VI site. Photo: InclusiveGameLab, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources
What this article is based on. Official Rockstar sources first; titles are shown in their original language.
- Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto VI (web oficial)
- Push Square GTA 6 Pre-Orders 'Heavily Skewed' Towards PS5, Xbox Exec Responds · September 24, 2026
- GamesRadar+ Xbox is "very happy with GTA 6 pre-orders," exec says, claims sales match "our share of the console market" · September 25, 2026
