Has *GTA6* not even been released yet, and Rockstar has already been proven wrong by the data?

I’d give it a 7. Because this leak didn’t rip the lid off GTA6 itself, but it did cast a very clear light on Rockstar’s most realistic side. Foreign outlet dsogaming reported that the hacker group ShinyHunters recently breached Rockstar Games’ servers and took a number of internal documents. They also reportedly tried to use the files as leverage to demand a ransom, but the talks fell through, so they ultimately dumped everything online. Veteran players usually react to this kind of news by grabbing popcorn, but this time the “gossip” is packed with operational data, and it hits harder than any trailer.

Let’s start with the most painful part. Red Dead Online brings in about $26 million a year on average, or roughly 170 million RMB; GTA Online, meanwhile, pulls in as much as $500 million annually on average, about 3.4 billion RMB. One is like an old IP still barely hanging on from the tail end of the PS2 era, while the other is a live-service monster that just kept getting fatter throughout the PS4 generation. The gap isn’t small by any measure. Then look at player activity: GTA Online has about 10 million weekly active users, while Red Dead Online has only 1 million—a full 10x difference. At that point, the answer to how resources get allocated is basically already written on the blackboard.

A lot of PC players always ask why Rockstar loves launching on consoles first, then patching in a PC version later, sometimes with an almost indifferent attitude. Now the answer is actually pretty straightforward: development and marketing naturally lean toward wherever the money is. The platform breakdown for GTA Online players is still console-dominated, with PS5 having the largest player base, PS4 in second, followed by Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, and PC at the bottom. What’s even more brutal is the spending data: PS5 is still the platform most willing to spend, followed by Xbox Series X, PS4, and Xbox One, while PC revenue doesn’t even reach 30% of Xbox One’s. It’s harsh, but it sounds a lot like the old-school logic console makers used to apply to major third-party titles: they talk about ecosystem out loud, but in practice they only recognize revenue.

That said, this leak also exposed another issue. We’re already in the 2020s, and yet 35% of GTA Online players are still on last-gen consoles like PS4 and Xbox One. Then you understand why Rockstar doesn’t dare cut things off too aggressively. Those old machines may feel as awkward as playing Metal Gear Solid 4 with a worn-out controller, but the user pool is still there, and so is the money. Players in the U.S. are even more extreme: total spending there exceeds the combined total of the other top ten spending countries. That shows that the core foundation of GTA Online is still, in essence, a double guarantee of consoles + the U.S. market.

So stop treating GTA6 launching on consoles first as some kind of mysterious strategy. To put it bluntly, it’s just basic business sense. It’s not that PC doesn’t matter, but in Rockstar’s ledger, PC simply isn’t important enough yet to claim the launch window. The community will definitely keep arguing about it, especially the PC crowd, and I completely understand that; but judging from the revenue and activity data that came out this time, Rockstar isn’t being willful—it’s being as calculating as an old-school publisher. My advice is simple too: if you really want to play GTA6 the moment it launches, console is still the safest bet, especially the PS5 camp; if you’re waiting for the PC version, it’s best to switch your mindset into veteran-player mode first—don’t treat the delay as betrayal, just treat it as one of Rockstar’s hereditary traditions.