Xbox boss hits back at claims that everyone wants to play ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ on PlayStation

Xbox’s Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball has hit back at claims that the company is worried about Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders on the platform.

Earlier this week, video games journalist Tom Warren shared a report that claimed pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 are “heavily skewed” towards the PlayStation 5 which has “set off even more alarm bells” at Xbox, who recently confirmed a second wave of lay-offs and studio closures.

However Ball took to social media to dispute the claims. “Tom, we are very happy with Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders,” he wrote on X. “The title is breaking records for Xbox [and] we expect even more records will be broken throughout the fall. Our internal analysis shows our share of pre-orders to be matching our share of the console market.” He told other X users that the report was “false” and “not true”

Warren replied by asking Ball what Xbox’s share of the console market is, but Ball is yet to reply. 

what's your share of the console market?

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) September 24, 2026

“Hey Matt. Does your internal analysis show people upgrading/buying a current-generation console for Grand Theft Auto 6 at a 1:3 ratio versus the competitor, or is that changing,” asked fellow journalist Tom Henderson. “I thought it would be a given that you’re matching your console market share with your pre-order share, so it makes perfect sense why pre-orders are heavily skewed to the competition, but that doesn’t necessarily mean sources (developers) aren’t concerned, given everything going on.”

Grand Theft Auto 6 launches November 19 and, according to developers Rockstar Games, plays “best” on the PlayStation 5. An enhanced version will also be released for the PlayStation 5 Pro, but exact details are still to be confirmed. Following the release of the Grand Theft Auto 6: Extended Look on Netflix at the start of the month, people are struggling to buy a PlayStation 5 Pro. 

Yesterday (September 24) Rockstar Games announced details of a bumper collector’s edition of Grand Theft Auto 6. ‘The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection’ features a number of limited-edition products and will set you back £349.99 but doesn’t include a copy of the game. 

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