Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V was first released in 2013 during the PlayStation 3 era. It was later re-released on the succeeding generation of consoles and continues to be played to this day.
It’s been 13 years since the last new GTA game, so to say the soon-to-be-released GTA VI is the most anticipated game of all time almost feels like an understatement. But even then, millions will have to settle for watching others play the game.
Access to modern gaming
According to American Twitch streamer Ludwig, online viewership will likely dwindle during the game’s release, as more will be playing it themselves instead of watching others.
“Most people’s viewership is going to be worse with GTA VI. It happens all the time… There’s a subset of viewers who are kind of interested in seeing it. And then there’s a bunch of people who just want to play the game,” said Ludwig during a stream.
But the numbers say otherwise. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X—the consoles GTA VI will be released on—both have lower ownership numbers compared with their previous generations. Simply put, there are a lot fewer people who own consoles and thus are able to play the game than there were for GTA V.
According to Sony, the original PlayStation sold 102.4 million units worldwide, while the PlayStation 2, which holds the record of the bestselling console of all time, had sold over 160 million. Console sales took a dip in the third generation with 87.4 million but later hit peak numbers with the PlayStation 4’s 117 million units.
The PlayStation 5, which was released in 2020, is nearing the end of its lifecycle with 97 million units sold as of Sept. 30—the lowest Sony has recorded since the PlayStation 3.
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The story isn’t far off with Xbox. The original 2001 Xbox sold 24.65 million units worldwide, while the Xbox 360 turned in around 85.7 million. Xbox One later sold 58 million units, roughly half of the PlayStation 4’s 117 million, and the Xbox Series X/S is said to have sold somewhere between 28 and 34 million units.According to Medium writer Abigail Says, Microsoft stopped reporting console unit sales in 2015 and switched to “active users” as its new metric.
From consoles and PCs to mobile
Well, it’s a recession indicator, no mystery there. But interestingly, millions aren’t putting off gaming entirely. Rather, they’re simply playing elsewhere.
In a survey by Statista, 67 percent of US adults aged 18 to 64 use their smartphone to play games. Meanwhile, consoles account for 30 percent, while PC/laptop gaming lags behind with 28 percent.
According to Katharina Buchholz, “In 2022 and 2024, 33 to 34 percent still said they gamed on a console regularly—down from 38 percent in 2020. Over the same time period, the share of those regularly using their smartphone to game rose from 55 percent to now 67 percent.”
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The shift coincides with developers producing games with an increased focus on mobile platforms. After all, consoles and computers require far more capital, while smartphones are only getting better by each passing year. For one, Resident Evil Village, a modern gaming title, is playable on the iPhone—a technological feat that would have been unheard of just a few years ago.
As for GTA VI, well, smartphones for sure can’t handle its technological demands—maybe for now. But at least for those with a decent smartphone, there’s a whole lot of games they can play in the meantime.And perhaps that’s also what’s contributing to the idea that a console isn’t so needed these days.