The upcoming release of “GTA 6” on November 19th is already triggering a measurable buying spree for current-gen consoles months before the release, with Sony’s PS5 Pro dominating the market dynamics.
Recent data from the deals portal Hotukdeals shows that between March and June, nearly half of all platform-internal discussions about "GTA 6" came from users actively purchasing hardware. The recent price increase likely also played a minor role.
Sony dominates purchasing intentions through software updates.
PlayStation 5 has seen a 65 percent increase in deal searches year-over-year. Microsoft's Xbox division, in direct comparison, has seen a drastic drop in search and purchase intent.
The trigger for the massive surge in PS5 Pro sales was the game released in March. PSSR 2.0 Update from Sony. The AI-powered upscaling technology establishes the system in the eyes of the community as the technically definitive platform for the Rockstar Games title. Higher hardware prices hardly deter buyers. The PS5's price increase in April even led to a pre-purchase frenzy, as players want to avoid further price hikes before the November launch window. The market logic is simple: secure the hardware first, then the game.
No discounts for Rockstar software in sight.
While hardware sales are picking up, the software market remains sluggish. Pre-orders for "GTA 6" are not yet widely available, which is why searches for discounts on the game itself currently have no statistical impact.
The community is widely expecting a base price of £80 to £90. That's over €90 for the standard edition. Despite this historic price hurdle, demand remains strong. Microsoft, meanwhile, is trying to counteract this by lowering the price of Xbox Game Pass. However, without the powerful PS5 Pro, this approach is almost entirely ineffective in the context of the GTA release.
