Did GTA 6 really hit 39 million pre-orders? The viral claim, fact-checked
A number that would rewrite gaming history went viral days after pre-orders opened. Insiders say it's fabricated — here's what the evidence actually supports.
Within days of GTA 6 pre-orders opening on June 25, a claim started circulating that the game had already passed 39 million pre-orders and banked around $3 billion in revenue. The numbers spread across social media, YouTube thumbnails and even some news aggregators — and they would, if true, represent the biggest entertainment pre-sale in history by a comfortable margin. The problem: nobody credible can find where they came from.
Well-connected GTA insiders pushed back almost immediately. Reece 'Kiwi' Reilly, who has interviewed multiple Rockstar developers, called the figure 'total BS' on X on June 26, making the obvious point that a number this historic would have been announced by Take-Two or Rockstar themselves rather than leaking through anonymous accounts. Take-Two has disclosed no pre-order figures in any filing or earnings statement, and Rockstar has said nothing at all.
The scale test is the simplest debunk. GTA 5 — the second-best-selling game ever made — sold roughly 29 million copies in its entire first month in 2013. The viral claim asks you to believe GTA 6 beat that lifetime-month figure by ten million copies within about 72 hours of pre-orders opening, before a single review, hands-on preview or gameplay deep-dive exists. Even for the most anticipated game ever made, that's not how retail works.
None of this means pre-orders are soft — the opposite. Analyst modelling around a widely-reported estimate of roughly $1 billion in first-hour pre-order revenue implies somewhere in the range of 10 to 12.5 million units almost immediately, which would itself shatter every pre-sale record on file. The real story doesn't need inflating.
Until Take-Two publishes audited figures — most likely at its next earnings report — every specific pre-order number you see is either an analyst estimate or a fabrication. We'll track the official numbers here when they land, clearly labelled as everything on this site is: confirmed when it's confirmed, estimate when it's an estimate.
Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Information sourced from official Rockstar and Take-Two announcements and reputable reporting; speculation is labeled as such.