Rockstar Hackers Spill the Beans, But It’s All About GTA Online’s Goldmine!
Remember that big hack on Rockstar Games we talked about last week? Well, the notorious group, ShinyHunters, who claimed responsibility, just dropped the stolen data online. They had given Rockstar a deadline of April 14th to pay up, and when that didn’t happen, they went ahead and released whatever they got their hands on.
Now, if you were hoping for some groundbreaking leaks about Grand Theft Auto 6, prepare for a bit of disappointment. It seems Rockstar was pretty spot on when they said only a “limited amount of non-material company information” was accessed. Most of what’s out there is sales and financial data, which, while not exactly GTA 6 gameplay footage, does offer some fascinating insights into how Rockstar makes its massive moolah, especially from its online games.
One of the biggest takeaways from this data dump is the jaw-dropping difference in earnings between Red Dead Online and GTA Online. Yaar, the gap is insane! From June 2024 to April 2026, Red Dead Online was pulling in around $500,000 weekly, which translates to a respectable $26.4 million annually. Not bad, right? But then you look at GTA Online, which raked in a whopping $9.6 million PER WEEK between September 2025 and April 2026! That’s almost half a billion dollars annually, just shy of $500 million! It pretty much confirms why Rockstar has put all its focus (and eggs) into the GTA Online basket, leaving Red Dead Online feeling a bit neglected.
Another surprising revelation is the platform breakdown for GTA Online’s success. Guess which platform is leading the charge? PlayStation 5, hands down! It boasts nearly 3.5 million monthly active users and generates a massive $4.5 million in weekly revenue. And PC gamers? Brace yourselves: PC comes in a distant last place, with a comparatively small 894,621 weekly active users and just $264,273 in weekly bookings. Even the older Xbox One is outperforming PC! This data might just explain why we’re still patiently (or impatiently) waiting for an official GTA 6 PC announcement.
The data also sheds light on how GTA Online generates so much cash. A staggering three-quarters of its income comes from Shark Cards – those bundles of in-game cash you can buy with real money. It’s a classic free-to-play model success story, confirming that the bulk of that income actually comes from a very small percentage of players. We’re talking about just 4% of users generating that massive flood of cash for Rockstar, often referred to as “whales” in the industry.
So, while the hackers might have thought they hit a goldmine and tried to extort a cool $200,000 from Rockstar, they’ve ended up with nothing but potentially serious legal trouble. The data they released is interesting for analysts and curious gamers looking back at Rockstar’s business, but for those craving a peek into the future, especially GTA 6, it offers zilch. It seems Rockstar played its cards right by not giving in to the ransom, and the hackers are left empty-handed with data that’s more financially revealing than sensationally leaked.
Interesting metrics from Rockstar’s data breach:
GTA Online makes an average of:
- $1.3 million/day
- $9.6 million/week
- $500 million/year
The peak daily active users in GTA Online was 9.1 million players on May 20th, 2020 (just after the lockdown)
Red Dead Online only makes $26.4 million/year, which explains the lack of support.
GTAO has an average 10M weekly active users compared to just 1M average weekly active users in RDO.
The daily active users when the Mansions DLC released last December was 6.1 million players.
Shark Cards made a total of $5 billion between 2014 and 2024.
GTA+ had a peak of 1.3 million subscribers in December 2025.
PS5 has more weekly active users (3.4m) than Xbox Series, Xbox One and PC combined, which explains the partnership between Sony and Rockstar.
Interestingly, the PS4 still has more active users (1.9m/week) than Xbox Series (1.1m/week), Xbox One (1m/week) and PC (890k/week).
PC only makes up 3% of the average weekly revenue in GTAOnline.