Xbox CSO Responds to Report Claiming GTA 6 Pre-Orders “Heavily Skewed” Toward PS5

It’s been over two months since Rockstar Games opened pre-orders for GTA 6. And, if you were ever curious about how things hold on Xbox’s end in comparison to PlayStation 5, The Verge’s Tom Warren has given some sneak peek into what may be happening behind the scenes. In his weekly newsletter, Notepad, published yesterday on The Verge, Warren talked about the ongoing layoffs, studio mergers, reorganization, and more.

However, the report had some exclusive information regarding GTA 6 pre-orders. Warren noted, “Sources at Xbox tell me that Grand Theft Auto VI preorders are heavily skewed toward PS5, ringing yet more alarm bells about the platform.“

The report immediately caught the attention of Xbox’s newly appointed Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Matthew Ball, who responded to Warren’s post on X, saying, “Tom, we are very happy with GTA VI pre-orders. The title is breaking records for XBOX, we expect even more records will be broken throughout the fall, and our internal analysis shows our share of pre-orders to be matching our share of the console market.”

Warren did seek an explanation regarding Ball’s reply by directly asking him, “what’s your share of the console market?” You might have guessed it; Ball didn’t answer that question. From what was originally replied to Warren, it seems top-level Xbox execs are happy about GTA 6 pre-orders. But the fact that Ball is busy denying the claims on X, where users cited Warren’s report, it seems he is trying to keep Xbox in good light publicly since the latest layoffs and studio restructuring news broke out. In some instances, Ball simply replied to such posts as “False” and “Not True.”

If you thought it was only Warren who had questioned Ball, well, Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming also asked some detailed and logical questions, which weren’t answered by Ball as of writing this.

Here’s what Henderson had asked and said, “Hey Matt. Does your internal analysis show people upgrading/buying a current-generation console for GTA 6 at a 1:3 ratio versus the competitor, or is that changing? I assume the title is breaking records for third-party pre-orders/sales, or is it something else? 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. But it’s good to know, at a high level, that you’re happy with the GTA 6 pre-orders.”

It will be interesting to see what Ball has to say about Henderson’s queries.