Paris (France) (AFP) – The most expensive video game in history, promised record sales with a very important marketing campaign, “Grand Theft Auto VI” arrives on November 19 after a long wait for fans of this saga.

Published on: 06/11/2026 - 10:06

The release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series of the new opus of Rockstar's gangster series "will be the biggest launch of all time in the field of entertainment", assures AFP Christopher Dring, of the specialized media "The Game Business".

“For me, it’s the game of the decade,” adds Jocelin Lebeau, a 39-year-old soldier and fan of the saga. “I’m ready to buy it with my eyes closed.”

If the American publisher Take-Two Interactive, parent company of the studio, has not communicated on pre-orders, they have already generated around 750 million dollars (667 million euros) two weeks before its release, or nearly 8 million units sold, according to the analysis firm Sensor Tower.

In the United States alone, where there are 49 million PS5 and Xbox Series players, 29% of players plan to acquire the title, surpassing "by far all the other games we have ever tracked", explains Mat Piscatella, from the Circana firm.

The release of “GTA VI” will be done in two phases: players will be able to download it from November 10 but the title will only be accessible on the 19th at midnight.

Its arrival puts an end to thirteen years of waiting since the release of “GTA V”, the second best-selling game in history with 230 million copies sold.

It remains the entertainment product to have crossed the billion dollars in revenue the fastest since it took three days. For comparison, the first film in the ranking, “Avengers: Endgame”, scored 5.

Outstanding development

Since its beginnings, the series has seduced players with its reconstructions of fictional cities inspired by American megalopolises and the great freedom of action offered in a very detailed open world.

Regularly accused of promoting violence, "Grand Theft Auto" has also made a place for itself in pop culture as a symbol of subversion, not hesitating to make fun of the flaws of American society.

Renowned for its discretion, Rockstar has slowly revealed information about this new opus, through several trailers and interviews given to hand-picked media.

Bigger, more beautiful and more realistic than its predecessors, "GTA VI" follows the adventures of a "Bonnie and Clyde"-style couple who try to survive in "Vice City", a reinterpretation of Miami.

The company, which in 2026 has a dozen studios around the world and more than 4,700 employees, spent more than eight years developing this episode, production of which only really began after the release of its previous game, "Red Dead Redemption II" (2018).

Its budget, undisclosed, could oscillate between 1 and 1.5 billion dollars (888 million and 1.3 billion euros) according to analysts, unheard of in the entertainment industry.

“Crucial” exit

Field investigations in Miami alongside the police or in nightclubs, installation of a studio in Los Angeles entirely dedicated to the creation of non-player characters to populate their virtual city... The team has spared no expense to make its game a new industry standard.

This development has not been easy: already tested by a series of leaks in 2022 and the distribution on the internet of stolen videos of the game, the studio postponed its release twice to finalize it, before experiencing new leaks last summer.

In August, the broadcast of a large preview on Netflix, the result of a partnership with the American streaming platform, marked the launch of a marketing campaign as disproportionate as the ambitions of the game.

Airship in the sky of Miami, gigantic poster campaigns in the biggest capitals in the world, covers of cinema magazines and even a new extract from the game broadcast in an episode of the series "South Park": the American publisher wants to go beyond the boundaries of video games to impose its title as a mass cultural product, believes Chris Klippel, founder of the specialized media Rockstar Mag.

Behind this launch, the entire video game industry is also holding its breath, while the sector is struggling after the excitement of the early 2020s and the surge in sales in the wake of confinements linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a crucial moment for the entire sector,” summarizes Christopher Dring, who nevertheless notes that “we are already seeing an impact on console sales”.

© 2026 AFP

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