It appears that Grand Theft Auto 6‘s Extended Look on Netflix has caused a noticeable rise in PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S sales, despite the recent price hikes. Just a month before Grand Theft Auto 6‘s gameplay reveal, reports were circulating online suggesting that the gaming console market was in a critical position due to low sales.
As reported by Polygon, global market research firm Circana said that “gaming hardware sales [in July] fell a whopping 29% from last year.” The same analysis also claimed that, compared to the same period in the previous year, “US video game spending dropped 10%.” That said, a new report suggests that Rockstar Games’ official collaboration with Netflix might have reversed that downward trend and helped PlayStation and Xbox in a big way.
Xbox and PlayStation Console Sales Rose by Over 30% After GTA 6’s Latest Trailer
A new report by The Game Business Show says, “According to Nielsen IQ, UK PS5 sales jumped 33% [in the last week of August], while Xbox Series S and X sales leapt 34%.” The increase in hardware sales is significant because both consoles have gone through price hikes in recent months. Xbox raised the price of its 512 GB models by $100 USD and its 1 TB models by $150 USD. PlayStation 5 consoles also saw a massive hike in April, increasing the top-tier price to about $900 USD for the Pro model. However, at least the UK sales data suggests that none of these changes have been able to stop players from purchasing a console to play the upcoming GTA installment.
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Rockstar Games’ marketing has had a bigger impact on the gaming industry than just improving hardware sales. According to Newzoo’s latest global games market analysis, GTA 6‘s upcoming release is expected to take full-game spending to 17.5%. Interestingly, Newzoo expects global player growth to slow down in the coming years, and no other release might be able to boost US gamers’ spending on full games as much as GTA 6 is expected to.
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Image via Rockstar Games -
Image via Rockstar Games -
Image via Rockstar Games
Ronan Patrick, a marketing consultant at Newzoo, believes that GTA 6‘s pre-release sales have already been impressive on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. He said that, looking at sales from roughly June and July, it seems GTA 6 made about $320 million globally. To put that into perspective, Patrick said that figure is four times higher than the first-week sales of nine major AAA games combined, including titles like EA Sports FC 26, Battlefield 6, and Spider-Man 2.
With GTA 6 skipping PC at launch, many were already expecting some PC gamers to purchase a current-gen Xbox or PlayStation console just to play the game early. It was also foreseen that many non-gamers and previous-gen console owners would opt to get a new console just to play GTA 6. That said, an average increase of 33.5% in console sales, especially at a time when prices are at their highest, is quite remarkable. It remains to be seen if Rockstar Games’ anticipated open-world game will continue to break trends, traditions, and records as its launch date approaches.
- Released
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November 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+
