Affiliate link tracking from IGN's commerce operation showed PlayStation outperforming Xbox by 8-to-1 on GTA 6 pre-orders made through its links, a figure IGN shared on June 26, the day after pre-orders opened. That ratio, which works out to roughly 89 percent of tracked purchases going to PS5, circulated widely in gaming coverage over the following days.
Microsoft's Xbox division responded publicly around June 27, describing the reported figures as affiliate link data rather than actual pre-order data and saying they do not represent the full picture. Xbox also said GTA 6 is driving record orders on its platform, framing this as the strongest pre-order performance it has seen for any title. The company did not dispute that PS5 is likely ahead in total pre-orders, only the scale of the gap the affiliate figures suggest.
There is context that makes the skew understandable without the 8-to-1 ratio being quite the blowout it sounds like. Sony holds an exclusive marketing deal with Rockstar: the official GTA 6 trailers carry PlayStation branding and direct viewers to the PlayStation Store rather than Xbox. The PS5 install base of roughly 93.7 million units is also about 2.7 times the size of Xbox Series X and S's roughly 35 million. Neither factor alone explains an 8-to-1 ratio, but together they explain a meaningful advantage. Official pre-order numbers from Take-Two are expected in August at the company's next earnings call.