Grand Theft Auto 5 has cemented its position as Take-Two’s biggest hit as the title has sold more than 90 million copies globally. It’s yet another milestone for the popular game which was released back in 2013. The figure includes both digital sales and in-store sales of Grand Theft Auto 5. The game’s publisher Take-Two Interactive says that the game has had “unparalleled longevity.”
Take-Two has also revealed that Grand Theft Auto 5 was the No.3 best-selling title in the United States last year based on the number of copies sold. In terms of revenue, it came in at No. 6, according to data from The NPD Group. Grand Theft Auto 5 sales and in-game digital purchases were also the biggest contributors to the publisher’s overall revenue even though it had newer titles NBA 2K18 and WWE 2K18.
Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein confirmed during the company’s earnings call that it’s aiming to increase its earnings from recurrent consumer spending on in-game purchases and that all of its games will feature microtransactions in some form. This means that the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 will feature them as well but it’s yet to confirm in which form.
“We’re focused on players, not payers,” added Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, saying that one of the reasons why GTA Online has become so successful is that they’ve been giving great content to players for free as well. We can expect this strategy to continue going forward as well.