GTA 6 is already giving PlayStation and Xbox consoles a much needed sales boost, at least in the UK, even though Rockstar Games' inevitable pile of cash doesn't drop for another couple of months.
GTA 6: An Extended Look was a pretty big deal by itself. Almost 4m people tuned in on livestreaming platforms to get their first look at Lucia and Jason doing crime and maybe falling in/out of love, overwhelming Twitch in the process. Over 31m folks watched the deep dive directly on Netflix, along with a further 22m people who checked it out on YouTube (not accounting for re-uploads).
As reported on by The Game Business, all that excitement fuelled a pretty big sales week for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles. In the UK, sales of the PS5 shot up by 33%, while Xbox Series sales saw a 34% boost, according to market research firm NielsonIQ.
The console makers are likely letting out loud sighs of relief – with a few more held back for GTA 6's November release date, of course. Spiralling costs and an ongoing component crisis has made selling consoles a little tough lately. PS5 UK console sales dropped dramatically this summer and Xbox's 2025 was its worst year on record in the country.
Newzoo's Ronan Patrick tells The Game Business that the PS5 is "67% more expensive" than it was at launch, adjusted for inflation, while Xbox consoles are double the price, so GTA 6 might not have as monumental an impact as it would've if we weren't living through an AI-fuelled RAMageddon.
"We expect, because of [GTA] and Call of Duty, to see an uptick in the install base," Patrick says. "Not as high as it would have been… Nothing particularly massive."
Interestingly, despite not having a GTA 6 on the horizon, Nintendo Switch 2 sales also rose by a third that same week. Perhaps would-be owners were getting ahead of the Switch 2 price increase.
