The Grand Theft Auto series surpassed 400 million in lifetime sales, Take-Two Interactive announced as part of its latest quarterly earnings report. As per usual, this newest commercial milestone for the franchise has largely been achieved thanks to the continued success of its latest installment, seeing how Grand Theft Auto 5 continues to sell like hot cakes.

While GTA 5 is mere months away from its tenth anniversary, its success has long been one for the ages. Three days into its release, the hit game surpassed $1 billion in retail sales, becoming the fastest entertainment release to do so. Some four years later, GTA 5 became the most profitable entertainment product of all time and has continued to perform admirably to this date.

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Take-Two's financial report for the fourth quarter of its 2023 fiscal year further illustrates this consistent success, revealing that GTA 5 shipped 180 million copies as of March 31, thus accounting for nearly half of the series' lifetime sales. That's an extra five million copies sold since the previous quarter, which itself yielded similar returns compared to Grand Theft Auto 5 Q2 sales. Take-Two's latest financials also reflected on the first anniversary of the GTA+ membership for GTA Online, labeling the subscription service a success. However, the company hasn't illustrated that claim with any concrete figures.

Grand Theft Auto 5 and franchise sales May 2023

What it did say is that the next installment in the iconic series is "well underway," adding more credence to a recent report that Grand Theft Auto 6 is targeting a late 2024 release. With the holiday season traditionally being the most lucrative period of the year for the entire entertainment industry, a Q4 2024 launch would make a lot of sense for GTA 6. Not least because all 3D GTA games followed this pattern by launching in the final quarters of their respective release years.

Take-Two's earnings report for the fourth quarter of its newly concluded fiscal year also provided an update on the commercial momentum of the Red Dead Redemption franchise. Namely, the company revealed that the series reached 75 million in lifetime sales. This achievement was largely driven by the continued success of Red Dead Redemption 2, which shipped 53 million units to date, up 3 million from the previous quarter.

The publisher's Q4 revenue hit $1.45 billion, beating street estimates by some 10%. Take-Two's stock followed a similar trajectory following the May 17 publication of its financials, jumping over 8% during Wednesday after-hours trading. The earnings release confirmed that Take-Two remains in an extremely strong position and can afford to (continue to) take its time with the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series.

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Source: Take-Two Interactive