Xbox Boss Says GTA 6 Pre-Orders Are Breaking Records, But Analysts Aren't Buying It

Xbox exec Matthew Ball claims GTA 6 pre-orders are breaking records and match Xbox's console market share, but analysts point out that share is small compared to PS5.

Ever wonder if your console of choice is getting its fair share of the GTA 6 hype? Well, Xbox says it's doing just fine, thank you very much.

According to a report from The Verge, GTA 6 pre-orders are heavily skewed toward PS5, leaving the Xbox Series X version in the dust. No exact percentages were shared, but it's enough to stir up existing worries about Microsoft's gaming division. The game, 13 years in the making, is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches ever.

Xbox's chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, took to Twitter to respond. "We are very happy with GTA 6 pre-orders," he said. "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."

Sounds great, right? But here's the catch: Xbox's share of the console market is significantly smaller than PlayStation's. So while matching that share might be fine on paper, it doesn't necessarily mean much when PS5 is outselling Xbox by a hefty margin. As Circana analyst Mat Piscatella put it on Bluesky: "Given what the Xbox share of the console market is, not sure I'd be gushing about anything related to a relative split but that's just me."

And there's more context. Available numbers show Sony's machine boasting up to 80% of a multi-platform game's pre-orders on console. Microsoft has said the split on GTA 6 is less than that, but they won't say by how much. Plus, Xbox is going through extensive restructuring and layoffs, making the whole situation feel a bit bleak.

So what does this mean for you? If you're an Xbox fan, you're still getting GTA 6 — and it'll likely be a massive release regardless. But the pre-order chatter is a reminder that the console war is still very much a thing, and Microsoft's position isn't exactly dominant right now.

We'll see how the dust settles in the coming months — and how well Rockstar's epic actually sells. In the meantime, what do you think? Are you surprised by the pre-order split, or did you see it coming? Let us know in the comments.