As we had reported, Grand Theft Auto VI is not launching on PC. Now, we may know the reason Rockstar chose to do it this way.
As reported by Tech4Games, independent video game metrics company PlayTracker found that a considerable number of players bought the prior game in the series, Grand Theft Auto V, on multiple platforms.
In fact, that adds up to 44 % of all Grand Theft Auto V owners who have the same game on more than one platforms. This derives from another metric, which is the 37.3 % of all Grand Theft Auto V owners who bought the game after they already owned it.
PlayTracker’s metrics also found that Grand Theft Auto V sold 95 million copies, and estimated it made $ 1.4 billion specifically from players who double dipped or even triple dipped.
But, we should bring something else up. PlayTracker’s metrics do not show that most players own the game on PC. While we know some of their data is based on estimates and some on publicly disclosed information, here’s the breakdown of total ownership per platform:
PlayStation 3 – 16 %
Xbox 360 – 27 %
PlayStation 4 – 18 %
Xbox One – 18 %
Steam – 21 %
So, Steam was very close, but it was actually the Xbox 360 that saw the most number of Grand Theft Auto V players. This reflects the strong brand loyalty that Microsoft was able to still extract from fans in 2013. That was both the year Grand Theft Auto V originally released, and the release dates for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
It’s also notable that these metrics do not include the standalone release of Grand Theft Auto Online, that’s only available via subscription on either PlayStation Plus or Game Pass, or Grand Theft Auto V Expanded & Enhanced. PlayTracker may simply have no access to that data.
So is it likely that Grand Theft Auto VI is itself planned to release in multiple console generations like its predecessor? It may depend entirely on the popularity of this game’s version of Grand Theft Auto Online. Rockstar definitely sees some upside to delaying the PC version for double dippers, but that upside is bigger if they bring the same game to new consoles.
Of course, there are different reasons to delay a PC version. A delayed PC version is often produced with the intention of being the ultimate version, with additions to graphical settings and other enhancements made to what’s ostensibly the final version.
In any case, Rockstar’s real calculation is this one; the gamers won’t mind that there’s no PC version at launch, since they’ll buy that when it comes out too anyway.
Grand Theft Auto VI is releasing on 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
