A game hasn't even launched yet, and players are already voting with their wallets for the pricier option. Data provided by market research firm Sensor Tower to GamesIndustry.biz shows that 89% of Grand Theft Auto 6 preorders are going to the $100 (roughly NT$3,200) Ultimate Edition, rather than the $80 (roughly NT$2,560) Standard Edition. This gap far exceeds what the industry typically sees.
Breaking it down by platform, 90% of Xbox Series X|S preorders chose the Ultimate Edition, compared to 88.5% on PlayStation 5. The near-identical numbers across both platforms suggest this isn't a preference specific to certain console users, but a consistent choice among players overall.
Karl Kontus, SVP and General Manager of Games Industry Insights at Sensor Tower, told GamesIndustry.biz that "deluxe editions typically perform well during preorder periods," but even he was surprised by these numbers. "I've never seen a 90% deluxe edition share before," he said. "A 50% deluxe edition share during preorders is already considered a great result — the typical range for most games falls somewhere between 10% and 20%."
Kontus also explained why the price gap failed to deter players: "$80 is already above the current industry standard of $70, and the gap between $80 and $100 isn't actually that large — yet the $100 version comes with a huge amount of extra content." Earlier this year, Rockstar Games confirmed that certain in-game features would be exclusive to Ultimate Edition players, which directly drove preorders toward the higher-priced tier.
GTA 6 is set to launch on November 19. Before that, an official Extended Look will premiere at 8 PM on August 27 exclusively onNetflix, with wider availability across other platforms not opening up until 2 AM the following day. This arrangement has already drawn backlash from some fans, with one Reddit user writing, "A 6-hour delay? Guess I'll just be watching some garbled reupload on Discord instead." Others flatly stated they wouldn't subscribe toNetflix。
