Grand Theft Auto VI is "the most pre-ordered game in the history of PlayStation Store", Sony wrote on November 10, and "the most pre-ordered title of all time on the Microsoft Store", Xbox wrote the same day. Neither company gave a number. Both drew the same advice from the record: pre-load the game as soon as possible, so that it is ready the moment it unlocks on November 19.
What Sony, Microsoft and Take-Two said
| Who |
What they said |
Where |
| Sony |
"the most pre-ordered game in the history of PlayStation Store" |
PlayStation Blog, November 10 |
| Microsoft |
"the most pre-ordered title of all time on the Microsoft Store" |
Xbox Wire, November 10 |
| Take-Two |
pre-orders "continuing to reach unprecedented levels" |
quarterly results, November 9 |
None of them gives a number of pre-orders or of copies sold, and neither store names the game whose record GTA 6 took.
Sony also gives the demand as the reason pre-loading opened early: "Given this unprecedented demand, we've joined with Rockstar Games to allow players to start pre-loading the game nine days early, so they're ready to play on launch day."
Pre-loading and unlock times
- Pre-load as early as possible. Sony "strongly" advised everyone hoping to play on launch day to pre-load the game "as soon as possible", and Xbox gave the same advice. The file takes up to 212 GB, and our GTA 6 pre-load guide gives the download time at each connection speed.
- Boxed copies pre-load too. Sony says players who bought the code-in-box version can activate their code as soon as they get it and begin pre-loading. Bonuses, boxes and cancelling: GTA 6 pre-order guide.
- The minute it unlocks. On PS5, Sony confirmed a rolling midnight launch by country, starting at 00:00 in New Zealand. On Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox set one start for everyone: 1 a.m. ET on November 19, which is 06:00 UTC. Every country: GTA 6 release time by country.
- Xbox Cloud Gaming without Game Pass. Xbox says that from November 11, players in supported markets can buy cloud playtime without a Game Pass subscription; the game itself is bought separately: GTA 6 on Game Pass and cloud gaming.
If a download stalls or shows an error code, our GTA 6 server status shows the live status of PlayStation Network, the Xbox network and Rockstar's services.
