Grand Theft Auto 5: nearly 29 million copies shipped

"Oh, you think you're proud of selling one million copies? Your friend, Grand Theft Auto 5 sold almost 30 million copies! You're such a failure!" That's probably what an overzealous mom would sound like, if she had mothered a video game. And video games were people. But thankfully, we're safe from this horrifying alternate reality.

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"Oh, you think you're proud of selling one million copies? Your friend, Grand Theft Auto 5 sold almost 30 million copies! You're such a failure!"

That's probably what an overzealous mom would sound like, if she had mothered a video game. And video games were people. But thankfully, we're safe from this horrifying alternate reality.

"During the fiscal second quarter, we delivered record Non-GAAP results driven by the unprecedented success of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a recent earnings call. "The title received stellar reviews, shattered entertainment industry records, and has already sold-in nearly 29 million units to date. The extraordinary success of Grand Theft Auto 5 illustrates the positive momentum in our business and consumers' enduring appetite for the highest-quality interactive entertainment.

Remember: sold-in means to retailers, not to customers. However, it shows that there's incredible demand for the game. According to Take-Two, that figure has already beaten the lifetime sell-in of Grand Theft Auto 4 on console. Given how much the install base has grown on PS3 and Xbox 360 in five years, that shouldn't be too surprising. It is nonetheless impressive.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 30, 2013 12:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Grand Theft Auto 5: nearly 29 million copies shipped.

    "Oh, you think you're proud of selling one million copies? Your friend, Grand Theft Auto 5 sold almost 30 million copies! You're such a failure!"

    That's probably what an overzealous mom would sound like, if she had mothered a video game. And video games were people. But thankfully, we're safe from this horrifying alternate reality.

    • reply
      October 30, 2013 12:06 AM

      Shipped = sold?

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        October 30, 2013 3:20 AM

        No, but I bet the sell-through and sell-in numbers must be impressively close.

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        October 30, 2013 3:35 AM

        They will be eventually. They've probably shipped 5-10 million "extra" copies now to retailers to stock up for the holidays. Probably between 15-20 million copies in gamer hands right now.

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      October 30, 2013 12:07 AM

      What sucks is that studios will see these numbers and be even less likely to take a chance on titles that can't bring in these absurd sales numbers.

      Good for Rockstar though. They deserve the recognition for their accomplishment.

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        October 30, 2013 3:24 AM

        I don't know about that in this case only because GTAV really looks like an anomaly. With its multi-hundred-million-dollar budget and it's huge scope as an open world game, it seems more like an outlier rather than a space most publishers/devs would be playing in anyway. What other games even come close to this game's production budget, never mind marketing budget? Call of Duty, maybe? What else?

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          October 30, 2013 4:17 AM

          Assassin's Creed 4 maybe.

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          October 30, 2013 4:19 AM

          Plus, it launched at the best time for this kind of thing. Multiple platforms with massive install bases, and it's basically the last major AAA title for this generation before the new one starts.

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          October 30, 2013 5:59 AM

          That won't stop companies like EA from pointlessly trying. They did with CoD (Medal of Honor / BattleField) they even tried to copy the staggered yearly releases.

          Logic does not occur to publishers.

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            October 30, 2013 6:57 AM

            To be fair, Battlefield has been around a long time. It has evolved a bit to resemble CoD, I guess, but it's still a unique game and not some "me-too" imitation. Medal of Honor, on the other hand, was a pretty shameless attempt to cash in.

            I don't see EA attempting anything with the scope of a GTA game though. Seems way too risky if you don't have the expertise with such a complex genre.

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              October 30, 2013 9:51 AM

              They tried years ago with The Godfather. They just gave up when they saw Activision (True Crime), Microsoft (Crackdown), and THQ (Saint's Row before 3) fail at it.

              That didn't stop them from trying to compete with Steam though (Origin). So, I gather it's something else that made them not chase that money.

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        October 30, 2013 6:30 AM

        Worse yet, they'll get a mediocre game idea, think they can get these numbers, get thousands of people to slave away for years, fire everyone when it doesn't reach that threshold when released, then blame piracy.

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          October 30, 2013 9:10 AM

          Couldn't have summed it up better.

      • reply
        October 30, 2013 7:02 AM

        Don't hate the player, hate the game.

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