‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ Release May Wreak Havoc on Sports Ratings

Steven Adams may have been joking when he issued his recent warning about a looming sports performance slump, but the big fella’s predictions about a huge video game franchise may prove to be no laughing matter for the leagues and their media partners.

During a Q&A session with reporters late last month, the Houston Rockets center parried a query about his home gaming setup with a bit of tongue-in-cheek prophecy. “You guys should anticipate November,” a finger-wagging Adams said during the team’s 2026 media day event. “The performance … league-wide: GTA is dropping. So, look at NFL, look at all the leagues and watch them plummet, mate.”

Adams’ GTA warning was a nod to the Nov. 19 release of Rockstar Games’ long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI. On the heels of numerous delays and more than a few high-profile leaks, the GTA VI launch on PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X|S will mark the first installment of the franchise since GTA V arrived in 2013.

If that previous title is anything to go by, the NBA and every other major sport may notice a sharp decline among younger male viewers, especially those in the 18-34 demo. Sales of GTA V zoomed past the $1 billion mark a mere three days after its release; at present, there are some 230 million copies of the game in circulation. It’s admittedly an apples-to-rocket-launchers comparison, but having generated an estimated $10 billion in revenue worldwide, GTA V boasts a higher valuation than 27 of the 30 NBA franchises.

Predictably, the 13-year wait for a new GTA title has gamers frenzied for the upcoming release. Although its ontological status is somewhat flimsy—until the hard-copy PC version of GTA VI arrives sometime in the first quarter of 2027, buyers are dropping $79.99 (Standard Edition) or $99.99 (Ultimate Edition) to secure a scrap of paper in a box—6.08 million “copies” of the game have been sold as of Oct 13. The estimated haul thus far: approximately $594 million in revenue.

The audience for Rockstar’s half-hour Netflix special, Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, is further evidence the game is about to have a tremendous impact on American pop culture. Per Nielsen, the primer scared up 31.1 million viewers in its first four days on the Netflix menu, making it the platform’s top English-language film offering in 87 countries during the last week in August. As it happens, the hype reel also has garnered 31.2 million views via the official Rockstar YouTube channel since it was uploaded on Aug. 27.

Ironically, Netflix may face a decline in overall usage as gamers begin exploring GTA VI’s world of digitized mayhem. According to a new Hub Entertainment Research study, 56% of Netflix subscribers surveyed said they planned to buy the game or have already pre-ordered it. “For young gamers, the game isn’t a break from their social life—it is their social life,” wrote Jason Platt Zolov, the author of the Hub report.

While Netflix has dabbled in gaming, the company does not offer access to hit console games such as GTA.

Despite Adams’ jocular prediction, the prospect of committing atrocities in the virtual world of GTA VI is unlikely to throw any NBA players off their game … although the same assertion may not hold up amongst younger hoops fans. Amazon’s Prime Video package may be at particular risk of losing ground among the 18-34 set, as the streamer’s NBA audience is the youngest by far. Prime’s 2025-26 NBA coverage boasted a median age of 46.9 years, a full 9.1 years younger than the league’s following on linear TV (56 years). This dynamic is in keeping with Amazon’s younger-skewing NFL deliveries; through Week 5, Thursday Night Football is delivering a median age of 48.6 years, down considerably from the league’s TV average (54.8).

According to the Nielsen data, fans in the hard-to-reach 18-34 demo account for 20% of Prime’s NFL deliveries, while the league’s linear-TV partners can credit around 15% of their impressions to viewers in the same age range. While media buyers do not anticipate a significant decline in U.S. sports deliveries next month, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on how the younger audience segments perform in the wake of the GTA VI release.

As much as Prime has gone a long way toward carving out a younger niche for the top U.S. sports leagues, old heads still make up the bulk of the TV and streaming audience. For example, approximately 55% of the NFL’s viewership falls into the adults 25-54 bin, and fans that have aged out of the relevant demos altogether are legion. (That advertisers remain allergic to targeting those older fans and their piles of disposable income is as confounding as ever, given that adults 55+ watch all the TV and buy all the things.)

Then again, if Adams’ comments are any indication of how the cultural conversation will shake out in the run-up to the holidays, perhaps no audience segment is safe from the predations of GTA VI. “The coaches and scouts are going to be horrendous as well—but just for November,” Adams cracked. “But it should bounce back in December, hopefully.”

If it’s hard to imagine Rick Carlisle taking down a police helicopter made of zeroes and ones with an equally ersatz bazooka, sports may very well have its hands full when so many young Americans get their grubby little meat hooks on GTA VI. For all that, arguably the one day no one will have to worry about digital attention fracking is Thanksgiving, when even the most hardcore gamers will have to put down the joystick and pick up a drumstick. In other words, the usual NBA/NFL gluttony should proceed as planned, even if the taller diners at the Kids’ Table are itching to get back to their consoles.