GTA 6 breaks pre-order records on PlayStation and Xbox
Sony and Microsoft say GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game ever on their stores, and Xbox One owners can stream it from 1am ET on November 19.
11th Nov 2026 12:15
Image via Rockstar Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
GTA 6 breaks pre-order records on PlayStation and Xbox
Sony and Microsoft say GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game ever on their stores, and Xbox One owners can stream it from 1am ET on November 19.
11th Nov 2026 12:15
Image via Rockstar Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
GTA 6 hasn't even launched yet and it's already breaking records, as both Sony and Microsoft now say it's the most pre-ordered game ever on their digital stores.
PlayStation's Tim Turi confirmed on the PlayStation Blog yesterday (November 10) that Grand Theft Auto 6 "is now the most pre-ordered game in the history of PlayStation Store", while an Xbox Wire post on the same day called it "the most pre-ordered title of all time on the Microsoft Store", nine days before the game launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19.
A record on both sides of the console war
Neither company has put an actual number on those pre-orders, which fits nicely with Take-Two's own line in its results this week that "the numbers will speak for themselves soon enough", but it's still quite the claim from Sony, given PlayStation Store has just turned 20 and has seen the odd blockbuster or two in that time.
Sony says that "unprecedented demand" is exactly why it teamed up with Rockstar to open pre-loading nine days early, and it's also gone for a rolling midnight launch by country, starting at 12am NZDT in New Zealand and working its way around the globe as each country hits midnight on November 19. Both companies are strongly nudging everyone to pre-load as soon as possible, which seems like sound advice for a download of up to 212GB (a progress bar at 11:59pm isn't anyone's idea of a launch party).
Xbox One owners can stream it from 1am ET
The Xbox Wire post also confirmed that GTA 6 will be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S from 1am ET (6am UK) on November 19, using the Xbox Series S graphics settings when it's streamed. From today (November 11), players in supported markets can also buy cloud playtime to stream supported games without a Game Pass subscription, although you'll still need to buy GTA 6 itself separately, and Xbox says GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2 and more Rockstar games will be joining Xbox Cloud Gaming "in the coming months".
Xbox boss Asha Sharma went a step further on X, describing it as "the first step in our new 10-year strategic partnership with Take-Two", as reported by Inven Global, although neither company has said what else that deal actually covers just yet.
If you're wondering how GTA 6 will run on each console, we've covered Rockstar's 30fps target and the PS5 Pro extras in our GTA 6 performance piece, while Take-Two's take on those pre-orders is in our GTA 6 pre-orders story. Well, if this is how things look before anyone has even pressed start, November 19 could be a very long night for those servers.
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Jake Bannister
Jake is GGRecon's Co-Founder and Operations Director. You'll find him covering our word game brain teasers, as well as sports games such as Football Manager and EA FC. He's also that teammate on your Rocket League team spamming "Wow!".
