According to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, Grand Theft Auto 6 will help boost console sales, which have been on the decline for years. “When you have a big title in the market, and we have many of them coming, historically, that has sold consoles,” he told IGN. “I don’t think tariffs are going to be our friend, but I think there will be a meaningful uptick in console sales… because of the release schedule, not just coming from us, but coming from others.”
He’s certainly right that console sales have been “plummeting”. According to official games data supplied by Games Sales Data, sales of consoles in Europe have been down 21 percent year on year, with PS5 sales falling 20 percent, Switch sales down 15 percent, and Xbox Series X/S sales down a painful 48 percent.
But Why Aren’t Consoles Selling Anymore?
But to understand why Zelnick thinks GTA 6 will boost console sales, we have to first understand why sales numbers are dropping so drastically. For one, there has been a lack of console exclusives worth buying a console for – many games are now multi-platform releases that can be played on PC. Even if a game doesn’t come to PC at the same time as consoles, there are so many games to play that people are simply willing to wait for PC releases instead of shelling out for a new Xbox or PlayStation.
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This ties in to the rise of PC gaming, which has been growing over the years and offers the kind of flexibility you simply can’t get with consoles. These hefty rigs are often more powerful than consoles and can be continuously upgraded, all but negating the need for a pricey pre-built console unless you’re desperate to play exclusives on launch.
There’s also the obvious fact that we’re mid-console generation, a point at which sales will naturally tail downwards. The Xbox Series X/S and PS5 both launched in late 2020, which means anybody who wanted to buy one has likely already got one. There are no more scarcity issues, no reason not to have picked one up.
And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the obvious economic factors at play. Consoles and games are getting more expensive, while cost of living rises across the globe and economies suffer. A lot of people can’t afford to buy consoles or games like they used to, even if they wanted to, and global inflation is making this even less feasible. For context, I live in Asia, and a new PS5 Slim would cost a third more than I pay in rent every month.
I have a pretty good deal on rent, but still.
Can Grand Theft Auto 6 Overcome Console Sales?
We know that Grand Theft Auto 6 will not release on PC at the same time it launches on consoles. Rockstar Games has a history of delayed PC releases: Grand Theft Auto 5 reached PC 19 months after PS3 and Xbox 360, while Red Dead Redemption 2 took over a year.
That means that if you want to play GTA 6 on launch, you will need a console, and the fact is that a lot of people do want to play it right away. The real question is if people want to play it badly enough that they’re willing to overlook all the other reasons they don’t already have a console.
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Plus there’s a good chance that GTA 6 may well be more expensive than other games – I wouldn’t be surprised if it led to an industry-wide price hike. In combination with the high price of consoles, people might decide to wait for a PC release, even if it takes over a year.
Then again, you have to keep in mind that GTA 6 is likely the cultural gaming event of the decade. This isn’t a Starfield or a Diablo 4, but the definitive blockbuster of the ‘20s. It appeals to gamers across demographics. It’s a guaranteed hit, even if it doesn’t turn out as good as gamers have made it up to be in their heads. If there ever was a console-seller, this would be it.
I’m just not sure that the hype is enough to overcome all the other factors that could keep console sales dampened. We’ll likely see an uptick in sales, as Zelnick said, but I don’t think anything, bar a new console generation, will revive console sales in any meaningful way. GTA 6 is the biggest release of the year, but it’s just one game. The release calendar isn’t enough to make consoles significantly more relevant.