Analysts Expect GTA 6 To Sell 25 Million Copies On Launch Day

A game selling ten million copies over any period of time would be considered an overwhelming success in almost every circumstance. However, a new report suggests that it won't be good enough for GTA 6, with analysts predicting Rockstar's next big hit could sell as many as 25 million copies in its first day.

A new report courtesy of Bloomberg breaks down the numbers surrounding GTA 6's launch later this year, according to what analysts expect from Rockstar's next game. Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, who usually gives off the impression that he's a pretty calm, unflappable kind of guy, even admits that the expectations surrounding the title are terrifying.

Experts believe that GTA 6 selling ten million copies wouldn't only be poor, but 'disastrous' due to how much money has been pumped into the next Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar has effectively been given an unlimited budget to make the game. We may never know how much it has cost to create. Comfortably hundreds of millions, perhaps even north of $1 billion.

As terrifying as GTA 6's launch will be for everyone at Take-Two and Rockstar, analysts are expecting the game to comfortably sell ten million copies in its first day. They're expecting it to more than double that total, in fact, and potentially sell as many as 25 million copies within 24 hours of its release.

It's difficult to comprehend a game selling that many copies so quickly, and the number only gets even harder to try and grasp when you consider just how few games have sold that many copies over their lifetimes, let alone in a single day. Not including free-to-play games like Fortnite, according to a list of the top-selling games ever, only 50 have ever achieved that feat.

Rockstar currently has four games in that top 50 — GTA 5, GTA 4, GTA: San Andreas, and Red Dead Redemption 2. The only studios with more games on that list are Nintendo, Game Freak, and Activision, thanks to Call of Duty. It's the sales of GTA 4 and GTA 5 that demonstrate just how big Grand Theft Auto has become during its last two games alone, and why expectations are so high for GTA 6.

GTA 4 has sold 25 million copies. A game that was wildly popular and well-loved to this day, and analysts believe GTA 6 will outdo its 18-year sales total in a single day. GTA 5 has sold 225 million copies and, even with the launch of GTA 6 on the horizon, continues to sell five million copies every quarter, 13 years on from its launch. With those numbers in mind, if GTA 6 is as good as everyone's expecting, suddenly 25 million copies in 24 hours doesn't sound so far-fetched.