“Unusual increase” – GTA 6 pre-downloads are driving up traffic

The advance download phase of the video game “Grand Theft Auto VI” is generating noticeably more data traffic for the telecommunications companies Vodafone and 1&1. The sixth part of the well-known action game series is scheduled to appear on November 19th, but has been available to download in advance since this week.

At the beginning of the night from Monday to Tuesday, data traffic in Vodafone's central network area increased around 1 a.m. After one to two hours it had decreased significantly again, a spokesman said. On Tuesday morning, the data throughput was around 60 percent higher than the previous day.

An “unusual increase” was also observed at 1&1 on the night of November 9th to 10th. Significant increases were recorded in data traffic from users of online services for the Playstation and Xbox game consoles. “Compared to normal nights, the increase was at times around a factor of 10,” said a spokesman.

According to Sony, GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game of all time on the PlayStation Store. In major German cities such as Berlin and Munich, the game is currently being advertised with huge billboards.

So far it looks like the preload is well spread over several days, Vodafone said. This equalizes larger load peaks. However, the base load remains increased. "If many people download more than 200 gigabytes at the same time, a lot of data traffic accumulates. Our network is prepared for such peaks," said Marc Hölzer, head of network development.

Vodafone and 1&1 are also expecting increased data volumes on the official release day on November 19th.

A few days ago, Telekom calculated for users on Platform X how much time they would have to allow for downloading the game. At 10 megabits per second (Mbps) it takes more than 47 hours. At 50 Mbit/s it takes 9 hours and 25 minutes, at 500 Mbit/s a good 56 minutes and at 1000 Mbit/s around 28 minutes.

Rockstar Games' GTA is one of the most famous video game series in the world and was first released in 1997. The predecessor was released in 2013 and has since sold more than 200 million copies. With an estimated budget of well over a billion dollars, GTA 6 is likely to be the most expensive entertainment product in history.