GTA VI pre-loading, which opened on 10 November, set traffic records at internet providers in the UK and sent Danish traffic up 50%. The two clearest reports come from Virgin Media O2 in the UK and GlobalConnect in Denmark.
Virgin Media O2 in the UK
Virgin Media O2's release, dated 11 November, says Tuesday 10 November set new records for both peak traffic and daily data volume on its broadband network. Its figures:
- Peak evening traffic beat the previous record, set during Arsenal v Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, by 3.8%.
- Daily data volume beat the record set on 1 November by Fortnite Chapter 7 Mini Season by 4%. The record was passed at 23:05.
- Traffic between midnight and 1 a.m. was up 51.6% on the same hour the previous Tuesday, and downloads from midnight to 9 a.m. were up 73.3% on the same period on 3 November.
Chief technology officer Jeanie York called the game "proving to be a record-breaking moment for our network". The release also quotes a Strand Partners survey of 520 UK adults who expect to play: 46% expect to download the game before release day, and they expect to play about 17 hours in the first week. It says customers on its Gig2 service can download the 190GB game in under 15 minutes, without giving test conditions.
GlobalConnect in Denmark
The Copenhagen Post, relaying a Ritzau report, says GlobalConnect measured Danish internet traffic 50% above an average night in the early hours of 10 November, as pre-loading opened at midnight. Chief operating officer Jakob Dirksen said each download corresponds to roughly 50 to 100 hours of normal streaming. He said the increase caused no problems for the network or other functions.
Elsewhere in Europe
Push Square's round-up lists further reports. 1&1 in Germany said connections to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live were ten times higher than usual overnight, GlobalConnect in Sweden reported a 50% rise, and providers in Estonia reported similar patterns. The same round-up notes that Spectrum in the US is running a promotion that temporarily raises eligible customers' speeds so they can download the game faster. We have only Push Square's account of those items.
One size figure to ignore
Virgin Media O2 refers to a 190GB game. Rockstar and PlayStation tell players to clear at least 212 GB, which is a storage requirement and not a published install size. Plan for 212 GB. The storage guide covers what to clear.
What it means for players
Everyone with a digital pre-order can pre-load now, and Rockstar says code-in-box buyers can activate their code and start as soon as they have it. The game starts at midnight local time on 19 November, when demand on the servers peaks. Rockstar has not said whether a day-one patch follows the pre-load, so leave some time on launch night anyway. If a download stalls, the server status guide lists the pages to check, and the pre-load steps walk through the process.