This spring, GTA V’s average and peak player totals on Steam reached their loftiest levels since the game’s first month on PC, and those figures remain higher than they were at the same point in any previous year. Take-Two’s net revenue for the six months ending on Septemexceeded its haul during the same period in the prior year by $274.2 million, $174.2 million of which the publisher attributed to an increase in net revenue from GTA V and GTA Online. Like the industry as a whole, Take-Two saw its revenues soar as gaming activity picked up during pandemic-induced lockdowns. in January and February, and it ranked fifth in September in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia and Africa, where it was beaten out only by brand-new games. Sales were strong throughout the year around the rest of the world, too: GTA V was the bestselling game in the U.K. But before that, GTA V was a staple in NPD’s monthly leaderboards, placing fifth in January, third in February, eighth in March, fifth in April, second in May, and fourth in June. This summer, Take-Two stopped permitting The NPD Group to include the publisher’s digital sales in the tracking firm’s public U.S. The 25 Best Video Games of the Last Generationĭespite its age, GTA V is one of the bestselling titles of 2020. It’s difficult to pinpoint precisely how many more copies will have sold by February 2021, but judging by public reports and Take-Two’s latest update, the tally likely won’t be lower than that of the year before. In February 2020, Take-Two disclosed that GTA V had sold 120 million copies to date, which-based on previous announcements-suggested that the game had sold roughly 20 million copies in the preceding year. According to market research company The NPD Group, GTA V ranked 11th in United States sales in 2019, years after the arrival of any new edition. The key to becoming one of the bestselling games of all time is not only setting an unprecedented pace from the get-go, but continuing to compile massive numbers with nearly no decline in the subsequent several years. Those games were big-time bestsellers too, but GTA makes them look like Ludendorff next to Los Santos. According to Take-Two’s November 5 earnings call, GTA V has now sold more than 135 million copies, which exceeds the totals for GTA IV, GTA: San Andreas, GTA: Vice City, and GTA III combined. In six weeks, the publisher shipped more copies of GTA V than it ever did of the game’s 2008 predecessor, Grand Theft Auto IV. Guinness World Records certified that claim and declared GTA V the bestselling game in any 24-hour period, estimating that Take-Two moved more than 11 million copies (including mine) in its first day on sale. In its first three days, the game grossed $1 billion in retail sales, prompting Rockstar’s publisher Take-Two Interactive to trumpet the title as the fastest entertainment product ever to reach that round number. Although the game was reportedly the most expensive ever made, its revenue immediately surpassed its budget. GTA V exceeded sales forecasts and set sales records straight out of the gate. It’s a snowball effect, and with it coming to next gen, there’s no sign this snowball will stop soon.”
“It’s become The Game people buy when they get a new PS4 or Xbox One,” Zack Zwiezen, who covers GTA for Kotaku, says via direct message, adding, “All your friends and family have it and play it, so you should too.
But for gaming’s great multigenerational juggernaut, which will be rereleased on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S next holiday season, the launch of new hardware just means more revenue to come. And by some metrics, Rockstar Games’ golden goose is more popular than ever.įor most older games, the industry’s changeover to a new crop of consoles spells obsolescence.
It’s already arguably the second-bestselling game of all time (not counting multiple publishers’ versions of Tetris), trailing only the continuously updated Minecraft, which came out in full almost two years before GTA V and is available on many more platforms, including low-priced mobile editions.
But GTA V and its multiplayer component, Grand Theft Auto Online-which appeared on PS4 and Xbox One in November 2014 and on PC in April 2015-are still fresh in many millions of minds.
It came out first for PS3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013, seven years and seven mainline Assassin’s Creed games ago. For me, GTA V feels like a distant memory-not just a relic of the PS4/Xbox One console generation that was eclipsed last week, but the generation before that.