Featured Image Credit: GTA
It shouldn't shock anyone if Grand Theft Auto 6 becomes the fastest selling game of all time, yet industry analysts have forecast that Rockstar is expected to make up to $5.2 billion from the launch, with gamers purchasing over 50 million copies in the first week.
This has already been backed up by insane pre-order numbers as, while we don't have any specifics right now, experts have used stock market data to indicate that Rockstar made upwards of $1 billion within the first hour.
It's even more impressive considering the game is 'only' on consoles, with PC players either having to wait for a launch down the line or take the plunge early with a copy of the game on PlayStation or Xbox.
With fans now waiting over 13 years for a sequel, however, you wouldn't expect much less — and despite backlash to the Ultimate Edition or controversy surrounding the lack of a physical disc, gamers are expected to fork up the higher-than-anticipated price tag for the game in November.
As reported by Dexerto, data from market intelligence firm Newzoo has revealed estimates placing the first-week sales for GTA 6 at around $4.5 billion, using one key indicators to reach that conclusion.
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GTA 6 falls into Newzoo's 'Proven Sequel' curve, which provides the greatest level of reliability when transitioning from pre-order revenue to launch week sales, especially compared to brand-new IP or uncertain sequels.
These games typically book a larger proportion of their revenue within the first week of pre-order sales, which only looks good from Rockstar's perspective as the developer has already secured more money than most games make throughout their life span before it has even launched.
Even if you were to consider GTA 6 to have sequel-related uncertainty – which is frankly impossible at this stage – Newzoo has forecast roughly $3.25 billion in revenue, smashing records previously set by Rockstar themselves with GTA 5 for the fastest selling game ever.
Newzoo's primary prediction would equate roughly to 51 million units sold on an average purchase of $88 — although it's difficult to know exactly how many people will opt for the Ultimate Edition and it's exclusive content over the standard.
This would instantly catapult GTA 6 into 11th place on the list of the best selling games ever, beating out titans like The Sims, Stardew Valley, and Overwatch.
It would take another 35 million sales in order to push GTA 6 above Red Dead Redemption 2 and into third place, although surging beyond that is going to be a more challenging – although probably likely – prospect.
In order to become the best selling Grand Theft Auto game of all time then it would need to sell over 230 million copies – something that GTA 6 likely achieved due to its 13-year-long lifespan and the popularity of GTA Online across three generations of consoles – but even with its immense popularity there's a good chance it won't come close to the 400 million sales achieved by Minecraft.
There is likely going to be a significant bump in sales when GTA 6 inevitably releases on PC, bringing a whole load of new players to the game alongside people who are likely to double-dip after playing on console, but it remains to be seen whether it has the same impressive longevity of the series' fifth entry.
