Over a decade since its initial release on older consoles, Grand Theft Auto 5 remains highly profitable for Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two. During Take-Two's Q4 earnings call with investors, CEO Strauss Zelnick announced that the game has now sold "approximately" 200M copies, an increase from the "over 185 million" copies reported last August.
In the past fiscal year, GTA 5 and GTA Online saw substantial player growth—35% and 23% respectively. Despite being 11 years old, GTA 5 sold around 15 million units, notably appearing on Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus. For comparison, in 2023, Hogwarts Legacy sold 22 million copies by January 2024, becoming the top-selling game of that year.
This positive momentum bodes well for GTA 6, which now has a release window set for "fall 2025" for consoles, with a PC release to follow later, as is typical for Rockstar.
Zelnick also acknowledged GTA Online's thriving roleplaying community, which significantly contributes to the game's continued high rankings on Twitch.
"Grand Theft Auto V also reclaimed its top spot as the most watched video game across all platforms according to Streamhatchet, thanks largely to the tremendous viewership from the series’ thriving role play community," said Zelnick.
Take-Two isn’t solely depending on GTA 5 for revenue. NBA 2K24 has been a major success, selling 9 million copies despite receiving mixed reviews from critics and players. Many complaints focus on the game's intrusive microtransactions, but these have evidently been effective. According to the company, the game "surpassed our expectations, as players responded to our promotions, in-game content strategy, and updates within Seasons."
Not only that, Red Dead Redemption 2 has reached 64 million copies sold since its launch in October 2018. This achievement is notable given that the game has only been available on one console generation, unlike GTA 5, which has spanned three. Such robust sales figures are presumably what help prevent unexpected and unclear studio closures in 2024.
>>> Read more: GTA 6 Police System Expected A Far-Reaching Change
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