DE-CIX runs the internet exchanges where networks swap traffic. The company says its network hit an all-time high of 33 terabits per second as the GTA VI pre-load began.
The company says traffic across its global network passed 33 terabits per second for the first time. In a press release, the company said it has recorded new all-time highs since the GTA VI pre-load began on 10 November, ahead of the game’s launch on 19 November. DE-CIX doesn’t say how much of that traffic is the game itself.
Rockstar’s support FAQ says the download needs up to 212 GB. In its pre-load announcement, Rockstar said PS5 owners could start downloading at midnight local time on Tuesday 10 November. Xbox Series X|S pre-loading began globally at 12am GMT the same day. TechPowerUp reports that Rockstar had first set the date for 12 November and moved it up two days.
The DE-CIX numbers
At Frankfurt, Europe’s largest internet exchange, traffic reached 22.30 terabits per second at 8:20pm CET on Tuesday, up 19.06% on the record it set in January 2026. DE-CIX hasn’t given the January figure. Across all its exchanges, traffic peaked at 33.01 terabits per second, and its US sites set their own highs the same day.
| Exchange | Peak | Time (local, 10 November) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE-CIX global network | 33.01 Tbit/s | Not given | All-time high |
| Frankfurt | 22.30 Tbit/s | 8:20pm CET | +19.06% on January 2026 record |
| Dallas | 2.66 Tbit/s | 8:00pm CST | New peak |
| Chicago | 1.22 Tbit/s | 8:20pm CST | New peak |
| Phoenix | 212.34 Gbit/s | 1:05pm MST | New peak |
DE-CIX usually sees spikes during software updates and live events such as the UEFA Champions League or the FIFA World Cup. Its CTO says games belong on that list.
Major gaming releases are among the events that can cause Internet traffic to surge significantly in a very short period of time.
Dr Thomas King, CTO, DE-CIX
King added that “the sheer scale of this surge is unrivalled”. DE-CIX says it keeps infrastructure utilisation at or below 75%, leaving spare capacity for unexpected spikes, and pre-load helps spread demand ahead of release day. Founded in 1995, the company offers interconnection in more than 65 locations across Europe, Africa, North and South America, the Middle East, and Asia. Its Frankfurt exchange alone handled almost 48 exabytes in 2025, with close to 1,100 networks connected.
What the ISPs saw
Home broadband providers reported heavier traffic too. Push Square, citing Golem, reports that Germany’s 1&1 saw PlayStation Network and Xbox Live connections run 10 times higher than usual on the night of 9 to 10 November. GlobalConnect in Sweden saw traffic rise 50% on the night pre-loading began, and Danish and Estonian ISPs reported similar findings. In the UK, Virgin Media O2 reported “record-breaking data volume and traffic” on 10 November.
Vodafone painted a calmer picture in Germany. According to the German wire agency dpa-AFX, its traffic rose at about 1am on the night from Monday to Tuesday and fell back after one to two hours. Vodafone says the pre-load spreads out over several days, which evens out larger peaks, though the baseline load stays higher. Marc Hölzer, its head of network development, said the network is prepared for such peaks. A lot of traffic adds up when many people download more than 200 gigabytes at once.
Sony says GTA VI is the most pre-ordered game ever on the PlayStation Store. Its predecessor, GTA V, has sold more than 200 million copies since 2013, and dpa puts GTA VI’s budget at an estimated “well over $1 billion”.
How long the download takes
Deutsche Telekom posted its own estimates on X for a download of that size:
- 10 Mbit/s: more than 47 hours
- 50 Mbit/s: 9 hours 25 minutes
- 500 Mbit/s: a little over 56 minutes
- 1,000 Mbit/s: about 28 minutes
Push Square, citing Dexerto, reports that Spectrum is boosting qualifying US users to 1Gbps at no extra cost, so they can download the game faster. Outages have tested networks before, and 2025 brought record outages, including PlayStation’s 24-hour lockout.
The bigger test comes on launch day. GTA VI launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on 19 November, and it unlocks at midnight local time, which is 12am GST in the UAE. DE-CIX doesn’t give a figure for launch day. Our GTA 6 UAE guide covers the price, editions and pre-load.
