Photo: Rockstar
Grand Theft Auto VI isn't hurrying up anywhere anytime soon, and that's for many reasons. First, Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO, said Rockstar developers "seek nothing short of perfection" for GTA 6. If it turns out that the production quality is like the realism from RDR 2, then he wasn't just speaking PR. But then, there are the massive amounts of money GTA V is still raking in, even ten years after release, and judging by recent stats, things aren't slowing down.
It makes a ton of sense that when you have a product that's making you money hand over fist year after year, you wouldn't have any reason to come out with a newer iteration unless the sales graphs predictions start to point to a downward trend.
This rings true for Take-Two Interactive, publisher Rockstar's parent company. According to Take-Two Interactive's most recent financial data, GTA is nowhere near a downward-facing trend or anything of the sort.
In the first fiscal year, GTA V raked in more than $1.6 billion, and in FY 2015, it was at its all-time low, a bit over $300 million. But starting from fiscal year 2016, it never dipped below $680 million per year.
During the pandemic, in FY 2020, the franchise made $710 million with a temporary free release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers and a significant Heist update.
The third-best year was 2021, earning $985 million when GTA V was free on Epic Store. The second-best year for the franchise was in 2022, with the release of the botched GTA Trilogy "remasters" and two other major updates for GTA Online. The astounding revenue was almost $1.1 billion, dropping to $781 million the following fiscal year.
Shifting gears to May 2023, according to data from GameIndustry.biz, the number one most-sold game (digital and physical) that month in Europe was the Nintendo exclusive The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which came out on May 12.
Hogwarts Legacy occupies the second spot, a re-released multiplatform title for the last generation of consoles. The third position goes to FIFA 23, in fourth we have Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and lastly, in fifth place, you guessed it: Grand Theft Auto V.
The first four spots belong to AAA games recently released with a lot of hype behind them, but after a month or two, when everything dies down, people will have moved on.
The outlier is, of course, Rockstar's greatest hit, which is still on lists like this after ten years. To have that kind of pull after all that time is extremely rare in the gaming industry. It's the magical "unicorn" every major publisher is looking to replicate to survive the significantly rising costs of game development.
Now, when you realize that since 2013, GTA V, GTA Online, and the remasters have raked in more than $8.33 billion, and on top of it all, it's number 5 in Europe, you understand why GTA VI has been in development for almost ten years.
The golden goose keeps laying eggs. Why replace it? Well, first, it's time, but most importantly, Rockstar won't keep it on its servers just for kicks after the game is finally ready to ship.
With all the hype GTA VI built up over the years, seeing and analyzing the financial tidal waves it will cause in the gaming industry will be a fantastic sight to behold.
This rings true for Take-Two Interactive, publisher Rockstar's parent company. According to Take-Two Interactive's most recent financial data, GTA is nowhere near a downward-facing trend or anything of the sort.
In the first fiscal year, GTA V raked in more than $1.6 billion, and in FY 2015, it was at its all-time low, a bit over $300 million. But starting from fiscal year 2016, it never dipped below $680 million per year.
During the pandemic, in FY 2020, the franchise made $710 million with a temporary free release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers and a significant Heist update.
The third-best year was 2021, earning $985 million when GTA V was free on Epic Store. The second-best year for the franchise was in 2022, with the release of the botched GTA Trilogy "remasters" and two other major updates for GTA Online. The astounding revenue was almost $1.1 billion, dropping to $781 million the following fiscal year.
Shifting gears to May 2023, according to data from GameIndustry.biz, the number one most-sold game (digital and physical) that month in Europe was the Nintendo exclusive The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which came out on May 12.
Hogwarts Legacy occupies the second spot, a re-released multiplatform title for the last generation of consoles. The third position goes to FIFA 23, in fourth we have Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and lastly, in fifth place, you guessed it: Grand Theft Auto V.
The first four spots belong to AAA games recently released with a lot of hype behind them, but after a month or two, when everything dies down, people will have moved on.
The outlier is, of course, Rockstar's greatest hit, which is still on lists like this after ten years. To have that kind of pull after all that time is extremely rare in the gaming industry. It's the magical "unicorn" every major publisher is looking to replicate to survive the significantly rising costs of game development.
Now, when you realize that since 2013, GTA V, GTA Online, and the remasters have raked in more than $8.33 billion, and on top of it all, it's number 5 in Europe, you understand why GTA VI has been in development for almost ten years.
The golden goose keeps laying eggs. Why replace it? Well, first, it's time, but most importantly, Rockstar won't keep it on its servers just for kicks after the game is finally ready to ship.
With all the hype GTA VI built up over the years, seeing and analyzing the financial tidal waves it will cause in the gaming industry will be a fantastic sight to behold.
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