GTA 6 Preorders Are Live While PC Players Are Still Left Out

GTA6 pre-orders are now live, but PC Gamer editor Harvey Randall argues that PC players are once again being told to wait. In the same conversation, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told Bloomberg that a game on GTA6’s scale should serve its “core audience” first, while also acknowledging that a PC version of a blockbuster like this could account for 45% to 50% of total sales. That contradiction is why the backlash has grown louder.

What stings is not just the delay. It is the pecking order behind it. Rockstar has used the console-first, PC-later model before, but it lands differently when company leadership openly admits that PC can deliver nearly half of a major release’s sales and still gives priority to another platform. At that point, it stops looking like routine scheduling and starts looking like a statement about whose audience matters first.

Randall’s core point is hard to dismiss: PC gaming is one of the industry’s biggest growth markets, yet PC players are left out of what may be the year’s biggest entertainment launch. That is why the frustration is not really about technical constraints. It feels more like a judgment about status. If you represent 45% to 50% of potential sales but still do not get a day-and-date launch, the message is hard to ignore.

The community’s sharpest suspicion goes a step further. Some PC players believe Rockstar may be using the console-first, PC-later release order to push double-dipping, with players buying the console version first and then a PC copy later. There is no official confirmation, so for now it remains a player accusation rather than a stated strategy. Even so, the cold, sarcastic reaction is easy to understand. The less a publisher says, the easier it becomes for players to fill the silence with mistrust.

PC Gamer readers are already drawing a practical line. In the site’s poll, many said they would wait for the PC version before buying, and some said they would skip the game entirely. That is about as clear a signal as a publisher can get. Not every player is willing to rearrange their plans around a platform rollout, and not everyone accepts the assumption that they will buy eventually anyway. Especially now, PC is not a fringe platform. For many players, it is their only platform and their most stable one.

The larger problem, then, is that Rockstar still has not shown any real sign that it sees PC as an equal platform. You can argue that consoles remain the traditional launch base, or that development and optimization happen on different timelines. But once senior leadership admits the PC market is this large, sticking to the old priority order sounds particularly grating. This is not a flashpoint that disappears in a day. It is a steady irritation that gets worse the longer it drags on.

If you are a pure PC player, the sensible move is simple: wait. Do not let pre-order momentum make the decision for you. It makes more sense to hold off until Rockstar clearly explains the PC version’s timing, system requirements, and how well the game is optimized, then decide. If you already own a console and know you want to play GTA6 as soon as possible, this controversy probably will not change your buying plan. But for the industry as a whole, the fact remains: when PC can contribute nearly half of total sales and still sits behind other platforms in launch order, this argument is not going away.