Xbox Says GTA 6 Preorders Match Its Market Share

Microsoft has challenged the assessment that GTA 6 preorders are disproportionately concentrated on PlayStation 5. According to Xbox CSO Matthew Ball, internal data shows Xbox’s share of reservations matching the platform’s share of the console market. He also said the game is already breaking records across the Xbox ecosystem.

The response followed a claim by The Verge’s Tom Warren that preorders were “heavily skewed” toward PS5. Warren connected that situation to further alarm over Xbox’s position as a platform. Microsoft publicly stepped in with a different interpretation of the results.

“We are very happy with GTA VI pre-orders,” Matthew Ball said, as quoted by IGN. The executive added that the title is breaking Xbox records and that the company expects more records to fall throughout the fall. His statement did not include an absolute number of reservations.

The key part of the response is proportional rather than a claim that both consoles have equal totals. If Xbox holds a smaller part of the console market, Microsoft considers a similar share of GTA 6 preorders to be an appropriate result. PS5 could therefore still have a higher total without Xbox viewing its own performance as weak.

Turning that comparison into unit totals is difficult because Microsoft has not disclosed Xbox Series X and S sales figures in years. Sony, by contrast, said PS5 had sold more than 95 million units as of June 30. Without a corresponding Xbox total, the exact ratio between the installed bases remains unclear.

Analysts cited by IGN have suggested that PS5 is outselling the combined Xbox Series range by at least two to one. If that same ratio carries over to reservations, there may be roughly two PS5 preorders for every Xbox Series X and S preorder. The source presents this as a conditional estimate, not a count disclosed by either company.

The partnership between Sony and Rockstar Games is also part of the context highlighted by IGN. GTA 6 marketing has prominently featured PS5, including promotional materials and presentations focused on the console version. That positioning helps explain why PlayStation has a more visible place in the campaign.

Sony has also published posts about PS5 features supported by GTA 6, including the DualSense controller’s speaker and haptic feedback. The campaign included a version of the PlayStation app icon using colors and visual elements associated with the game. These efforts demonstrate a stronger promotional presence, but they do not reveal how many preorders have been placed.

For players, Microsoft’s response does not change the announced platforms or release date. GTA 6 is scheduled to launch only on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S on November 19. The statement also does not identify any difference in content or access between those versions.

The result suggests GTA 6 can set internal Xbox records even within a smaller console base. At the same time, Ball’s statement does not necessarily dispute that PS5 may lead in absolute preorder totals. The disagreement concerns whether that gap signals unusual weakness for Xbox or simply reflects the relative size of each platform.

It remains unknown how many GTA 6 copies have been reserved on either console family. Microsoft did not disclose its percentage share, while the source provides no absolute totals from Sony or Rockstar. The actual distance between PS5 and Xbox Series X and S therefore cannot be calculated from the available figures.

The clearest takeaway is that Microsoft says it is satisfied and considers preorder performance consistent with its console market presence. Xbox also expects the game to break additional records throughout the fall. IGN published Matthew Ball’s response and the wider context surrounding the platform comparison.