More than a decade after its debut on antiquated consoles, Grand Theft Auto 5 is still a cash cow for Rockstar and its parent company Take-Two. Speaking today during Take-Two's Q4 quarterly earnings call with investors, CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed that the game has now sold "approximately" 200 million copies, up from the "over 185 million" copies it had sold as of August last year.
Meanwhile, the audience for both GTA 5 and GTA Online grew by 35% and 23% respectively during the last fiscal year. That period has seen GTA 5 appear on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, which hosted GTA 5 for six months in 2023, and Sony's PS Plus service. Leaving that aside, to sell around 15 million units of an 11-year-old game is still significant. Just for the fun of it, compare those 15 million units with the best selling game of 2023, Hogwarts Legacy, which sold 22 million as of January 2024 (it released in February 2023).
Zelnick even acknowledged GTA Online's thriving roleplaying community, which is a big reason why the game still ranks highly 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," Zelnick said.
