GTA VI likely delayed on PC for lucrative double dipper revenue boost according to analyst's GTA V data

There was some consternation when Rockstar announced that Grand Theft Auto (GTA) VI would hit the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles in 2025 without any mention of a PC release date. While this is arguably disappointing for PC fans of the franchise, history suggests that Rockstar's staggered release strategy is not without reason.

According to video game analyst firm PlayTracker, Rockstar has a solid reason for debuting GTA VI first on consoles and later optimize it for the PC. GTA players are likely to "double dip" i.e. purchase the same title on both console and PC, which means added revenue for Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

PlayTracker notes that 37.3% of GTA V copies were sold to gamers who already owned the game on other platforms resulting in 45% of owners who have multiple copies. This makes GTA V the most double dipped game, beating other popular titles such as Final Fantasy XV and Rise of the Tomb Raider by a long shot.

Although Steam makes up 21% of GTA V sales, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One together constitute 45% while the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 make for 34% of copies sold. Even by conservative estimates, Rockstar would have theoretically netted a sweet $1.4 billion due to double or even multiple dipping by gamers.

GTA V is so popular that Epic's servers crashed for a full eight hours when the publisher gave away the Premium version of the game for free for a week back in May 2020. Still, the giveaway added a good 7 million new users to the Epic Games Store — probably its highest so far.

Red Dead Redemption (RDR) 2 saw a similar approach as well with the game first launching on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018 followed by PC and Stadia releases in November 2019. The game tasted substantial success after launching on Steam following a brief exclusivity with Epic and Rockstar's own launcher. 

Therefore, it is not hard to fathom why Rockstar staggered release strategy bodes well for its revenue.

It took two years for GTA V to arrive on PC after its debut on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Rockstar might take a similar time frame to optimize the game for GPUs like Nvidia's rumored RTX 50 series Blackwell (and possibly AMD's RDNA 4.5 or RDNA 5?) and push the limits of whatever new tech they debut — at least that's the hope.

Buy Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition for Xbox and PlayStation on Amazon