There’s a natural gaming life cycle. Release. Peak. Plummet. It’s sad, but it’s largely inevitable. Very few games break that cycle but Grand Theft Auto V is one of them. Transcending its peak, GTA V has gone on to achieve an immortal level of success.
Grand Theft Auto V emits the energy of a game that came out last year. People still play it, buy it, stream it, and talk about it like it’s the new kid on the block when in fact, it’s approaching its 10-year anniversary next year. At this point, no one is really expecting Grand Theft Auto V to go anywhere anytime soon, but its most recent sales figures still came as quite a surprise.
The new-gen version of GTA V boasts updated graphics. Take a look at the PlayStation 5 version below compared to its PS3 counterpart.
Back in April, Grand Theft Auto V released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. You may be thinking, surely everyone who wants this game has got it by now? Hahahaha. No.
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Take-Two EVP of finance Hannah Sage told GamesIndustry.biz that new-gen sales of the game “exceeded expectations,” hitting around five million copies sold per quarter. This isn’t an increase. In fact, Grand Theft Auto V has been selling five million copies per quarter for quite some time. But considering the game is nine years old, anything that isn’t a fall in sales is a huge win.
This brings the overall total sales for the game, across its many platforms, to an incredible 165 million copies. That’s the equivalent of almost half of everyone in the US owning a copy, or the entirety of the UK population owning the game twice over, and then some. Safe to say, Grand Theft Auto V is holding onto its spot as the second-best-selling game of all time. It’s still got a way to go before stealing Minecraft‘s crown, though.
I would say if you haven’t yet grabbed this monumental piece of gaming history then you should, but I’d simply be preaching to the converted. Long may it reign, I guess.
Topics: Grand Theft Auto, GTA 5, Rockstar Games, Take-Two