Grand Theft Auto V Popularity Still Going Strong, 100 Million Copies Shipped

It's not exactly easy to create a game that players love so much they continue to buy and play for many years after launch. Most games start to fizzle out only a year or so after launch, but Rockstar Games has created a game with serious staying power in Grand Theft Auto V, which launched in 2013. Five years later, the game has hit a significant milestone with 100 million copies shipped to retail. With the "shipped to retail" caveat on the number, actual purchases are likely less as copies are certainly sitting on shelves around the world.

Word of the milestone for GTA V came during Take-Two Interactive's recent earnings call where the company announced net revenue growth of 11% compared to the same quarter of its last fiscal year, ringing in at $492.7 million for the current fiscal Q2 quarter. While Take-Two Interactive offered a hard number for copies of GTA V shipped to retail, it was vague on the popularity of Grand Theft Auto Online merely stating that the game continues to exceed expectations. Take-Two Interactive did state that Rockstar will continue to support GTA Online, which essentially prints money for the publisher and developer.

Take-Two Interactive did talk about its digitally-delivered net revenue, of which the lion's share is likely directly from GTA Online, stating that revenue grew 18% to $358.4 million compared to the same quarter last year; that is 73% of the total revenue for the company. Other games that contributed to digital sales revenue include NBA 2K18 and NBA 2K19.

Take-Two Interactive has a massive success on its hands with Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 having the biggest opening weekend in the history of entertainment with $725 million in sales during the first three days after launch. Take-Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick said that game's performance was "nothing short of miraculous."