While Netflix has confirmed that last week’s Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look showcase was incredibly successful, the video also seems to have had a tangible impact on gaming hardware sales. According to The Game Business, reports have indicated that PS5 and Xbox Series X/S console sales in the UK have seen a jump of 33 percent and 34 percent, respectively.
This has also led to retailers around the world running out of stock of consoles. In the UK, just one SKU of the PS5 Pro is available to buy directly from Sony, and just about every third-party retailer has seemingly run out of consoles to sell. While both Microsoft and Sony are likely celebrating this jump in hardware sales, especially in a year marked by severe downturns in console spending thanks to inflated prices, Ronan Patrick – an analyst at Newzoo – has warned that this spike in sales might not be as big as companies might have hoped.
This largely comes down to the fact that the higher pricing of current-gen consoles, especially compared to how much they used to cost just a year or two ago, still acts as a major barrier for consumers. The PS5, for instance, is around 67 percent more expensive than it was in 2020. Similarly, Xbox Series X/S consoles are twice as expensive as they were when they first came out.
“We expect, because of [GTA] and Call of Duty, to see an uptick in the install base, but nothing particularly massive. But perhaps some of the fears are overblown when it comes to software. It’s important to remember that the lion’s share of time is often spent on older titles, and the closest analogy we have to a hardware shock is during the 2020-2021 GPU shortage, and you didn’t see engagement or revenue being taken off course. You basically saw a reallocation of spend into software.”
In the meantime, Grand Theft Auto 6 has been available for pre-order since June, and while neither Rockstar Games nor parent company Take-Two Interactive has revealed any solid sales data, the PlayStation Store listings for the game across various regions have indicated that it has been quite a hit. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has spoken about not being too excited about pre-orders despite performance being “unprecedented and astonishing” since the game isn’t out yet.
“Nobody’s ever seen anything like this before, at Take-Two or in the industry. One of the reasons we’re not changing our guidance is, to be clear, we haven’t sold one unit yet. You can cancel a pre-order. We’re kind of allergic to victory laps round here, and we certainly don’t do the victory lap before the event.”
Zelnick also spoke about the future of gaming hardware, noting that the “rising cost of hardware is not a good thing”. He did, however, express the belief that gaming hardware getting more expensive might lead to the emergence of new platforms for gaming.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19th.
