Few games maintain their relevance quite as long as Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V, which has resulted in the eight-year-old game selling 150 million units.
The announcement followed an earnings call by Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games' parent company, where it revealed that Grand Theft Auto V has sold more than 150 million copies. The figures also showed that the game sold an additional 5 million copies since the previously reported number three months ago. The success of the latest entry of the series has brought the series's total to 350 million units sold since its debut in 1997. As such, Grand Theft Auto V has contributed to almost half of the entire franchises' sales.
Much of the game's longevity has been attributed to the success of its multiplayer mode Grand Theft Auto Online. The mode has continued to receive regular expansions, with the latest update, Los Santos Tuners, releasing on July 20. While the total units sold is a huge success for Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto's profit generation is largely due to the variety of microtransactions included in Grand Theft Auto Online. The mode reportedly pulled in a total revenue of almost $1 billion in 2020.
The game's dominance is largely the result of its existence on three console generations. Grand Theft Auto V originally released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. While the single-player option for the game launched on Sept. 17, the online mode did not release until Oct. 1. The game subsequently received a remastered release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014 while a PC port eventually arrived in 2015.
Rockstar Games announced in 2020 that the game will receive another update to bring it to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in November 2021.
Rockstar Games also has another successful open-world franchise in the form of Red Dead Redemption 2. Although the series only contains two games, when excluding Red Dead Revolver, it has sold nearly 60 million units, with the sequel contributing 38 million to the franchise total. The game similarly has an online mode but has received less frequent updates, resulting in fans claiming that it lacks meaningful content.
While both GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 boast significant online offerings, they lack any kind of single-player DLC. Previous Rockstar Games titles, like Grand Theft Auto 4 and the original Red Dead Redemption, received large single-player DLC via Grand Theft Auto: Episodes of Liberty City and Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare.
If you're somehow not aware of what Grand Theft Auto V is, there's never been a better time to check out the game. It's currently available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. It will be available to buy on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 on Nov. 11.
Source: Take-Two
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