Grand Theft Auto V Sells $800 Million On Launch Day

[Seracen]

Hah, I would love to hear the publisher claim it didn't do as well as they'd hope, just so I could LOL at the hubris...

Not likely to happen, but not out of the question, sadly, considering how bloated budgets and expectations can be for games nowadays.

Good on Rockstar though, to maintain their quality and vision over the years. I personally have not joined the GTA bandwagon, but I can respect it.

 

[rodneyy]

Try 13 million and you'll get a little closer to the truth.

Maybe you made a typo. It's 13 million units.

Yeah, thanks for catching that. Crummy calculator couldn't handle hundreds of millions and I didn't properly refactor the answer.

They never make that $60 per game. With all the other cost taken out, they only make maybe $22-$25 per $60 game. So if it were $25 it would be around 32M units.

They "sold" $800 Million of GTA V units. The sold figure does not take into account production costs. If they'd announced an $800MM net profit, then you would be absolutely correct.

Interesting that the pre-orders seem to be just a small percentage of the day one sales (2.4MM out of 13.3MM, or 18%).

Unless that's actually 180%. ;P

Stupid calculator.

the end number is probally a bit lower than that simply because not all the games will have been at $60 with collectors editions and special editions and whatnot those will bring in more per unit.

 

[Zeriah]

Just ran the numbers: $800MM at $60 retail per unit = 13.3 million units

I wonder how many of those were pre-order.

Also, there seemed to be plenty of stock available on retail shelves yesterday, so that certainly helped with genuine first-day sales.

Might be a bit less than that when you take into account the sales from other regions, such as Australia where they will be selling them for $110 despite a similar dollar.

 

[LordMonty]

There is no comparison, GTA is a brand games componies dream of and it will always have the pull for the big numbers and that said with the growth of gamnig since GTA's earlier incarnations there launch sales will in my opinion just keep going up and up.

 

[bug_of_war]

Just ran the numbers: $800MM at $60 retail per unit = 13.3 million units

I wonder how many of those were pre-order.

Also, there seemed to be plenty of stock available on retail shelves yesterday, so that certainly helped with genuine first-day sales.

That's almost exact, but you gotta take into account Australia and New Zealand prices being double that, so it's probably more along the lines of 8 - 10 million copies sold. Still pretty damn impressive though.

 

[Carrots_macduff]

Judging by the current trend by publishers these days, they'll still say it was a failure a couple months from now.

apparently you missed the part where the gta 5 launch was the most successful thing ever

I'll bring this up next time someone complains about dev costs being too high. With this kind of market, you really can spend tens or even hundreds of millions making a game and make a profit.

the operative word being CAN. you also CAN spend millions of dollars on something and have it fail.
the problem comes when publishers think big budget automatically equals big profit which is what your post seems to suggest.

for example, square enix calling their three most recently published games failures, notably tomb raider, which according to square, couldnt have possibly been a success unless it was as successful as things like halo and gears of war...

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I was gonna start with a "Maybe now publishers will learn that quality games that actually improve on its predecessor make the big bucks."

Instead I learn COD:black ops 2 made 500 million its first day......goddamn

 

[Adon Cabre]

That's a nice sales figure. I'll be waiting on my PC version though. I want to play this thing in full graphics and smooth framerates without having to resort to partial HDD loading and disc reading at the same time to make it work.

They will be porting this game to PS4 and Xbone soon most likely and before that probably a PC version to maximize profits.

200 million is a steep pricetag and I blissfully ignored any reviews or stories people have about this game because I want to see what the game is first hand. Is it another bi-polar mess like GTA's story line. Where the characters and the story were excellent had they been in any other game.

[HEADING=3]You still think it's going to the PC?[/HEADING]

That's optimism for sure. Rockstar has NO need for risking what will likely be RECORD BREAKING PIRACY rates because its the biggest game of the last two years.

Let's be honest. They didn't trust Red Dead Redemption on the PC, and they won't be risking a dime on torrent sites. If a small indie like "gentlemen!" can be ripped over 100,000+ times, GTAV's numbers will be legendary.

[HEADING=3]conspiracy?[/HEADING]
Especially if PC users get the idea that console sales did more than enough to compensate for them -- that's a thief's mentality, and there's no denying it.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

The most anticipated game of the decade, I would of expected sales to reach that high. I don't even want to know how much they will rake in at the end of the month.

With that said, now that the console version is finally out they can work on the PC version and next gen (a proper port pretty pls?) so that we PC gamers can enjoy it as well.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Judging by the current trend by publishers these days, they'll still say it was a failure a couple months from now.

apparently you missed the part where the gta 5 launch was the most successful thing ever

I saw, but I talking about the fact that so many games these days are getting sales numbers in the millions but the developers and publishers are still calling them failures regardless.

 

[Strazdas]

well.... this is shocking. i expected it to sell well, but SO WELL?
This is indeed the most successful launch of anything, no wonder these stores going crazy for launch stories are coming up.
Now the question is, is it actually any good and if so, will the PC port be?

[HEADING=3]You still think it's going to the PC?[/HEADING]

That's optimism for sure. Rockstar has NO need for risking what will likely be RECORD BREAKING PIRACY rates because its the biggest game of the last two years.

Let's be honest. They didn't trust Red Dead Redemption on the PC, and they won't be risking a dime on torrent sites. If a small indie like "gentlemen!" can be ripped over 100,000+ times, GTAV's numbers will be legendary.

[HEADING=3]conspiracy?[/HEADING]
Especially if PC users get the idea that console sales did more than enough to compensate for them -- that's a thief's mentality, and there's no denying it.

First of all, it will be record breaking piracy rates regardless. piracy on consoles are as lucritive.
ALso, if you look at aboslute numbers you may be right, but in percentages its not going to be anym ore pirated than any other game. people who used to buy games legally wont magically become pirates because the game is popular, they will just buy the game.

GTA5 piracy numbers are already "legendary" on consoles. and so was RDR. releasing on consoles only does not stop piracy, only intelligences.

As for compensating, thieves will always use this excuse regardless of platform, meanwhile pirates will do what pirates always do, either buy afterwards or not.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Just ran the numbers: $800MM at $60 retail per unit = 13.3 million units

For perspective, the Lifetime Sales of GTA San Andreas was 15 Million.
Go Team Rockstar!

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Judging by the current trend by publishers these days, they'll still say it was a failure a couple months from now.

apparently you missed the part where the gta 5 launch was the most successful thing ever

I saw, but I talking about the fact that so many games these days are getting sales numbers in the millions but the developers and publishers are still calling them failures regardless.

Yeah, but as it has been demonstrated with X-Com and Bioshock, that's not 2K's style.

 

[shrekfan246]

I have to laugh at all of the "Finally, it's not CoD anymore!" comments in here.

GTA is the CoD of open-world sandbox games.

EDIT: Just to clarify slightly, I don't mean "yearly release dates for endlessly rehashed sequels". Because I know some people will jump on me for that.

EDIT EDIT just to actually clarify:
- Muted aesthetic that uses a fair amount of colors, but looks washed out in comparison to the competition
- Bog-standard controls that are more refined and tighter than any other game in a similar genre, making it generally more fun to play than the competition
- A story that wants to be deeper than it actually is (especially if all the people who claim they don't play for the story are telling the truth), and includes controversy for the sake of controversy
- Insane amounts of media coverage and mainstream appeal
- Yearly releases of rehashed No no no. It doesn't have the same level of market flooding as Call of Duty, but there are many, many releases in the franchise despite how relatively 'low' the main-series number is at the moment.

Now I await someone telling me how many other games do the exact same things.

Dolla dolla bills, yo.

That's some mad paper, makes one's head spin.

Impressive that a single player game now holds that record, shows EA/Activision a thing or two ;D

Er, I laughed at your post, but GTA V has a pretty not-insignificant online section. In fact, it's arguably a bigger multi-player focus than the franchise has ever had before, considering they've essentially made it a Grand Theft Auto MMO without the first M ('Massively' - 16 players are allowed in at any given time, according to the information I can find).

Though in all fairness, and possibly as part of your point I suppose, the servers won't be live for another half a month or so.

 

[Lightknight]

Am I the only one around here who finds GTA repulsive? I love the idea of open-world, but unless I play the entire game muted and skip every disgusting cut-scene, I just feel dirty playing the game.

And before everyone labels me, I am not a particularly conservative person, I am not religious, I'm not a Republican (I'm not even American) and I don't equate video games with real-life violence.

You know, I seldom play the storylines past being able to unlock all the landmasses. The GTA world for me has never been about the game. It's been about all the small stuff like TV shows, radio stations and a lot of other smaller content they put everywhere.

Do I like the games themselves? Not really. But this game appears to have all those side things I love in abundance. Still not enough to make me buy it at retail though. Reviewers have already confirmed that the main characters are asses which I've always disliked.

But man, $800 million? That's incredible.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

Am I the only one around here who finds GTA repulsive? I love the idea of open-world, but unless I play the entire game muted and skip every disgusting cut-scene, I just feel dirty playing the game.

And before everyone labels me, I am not a particularly conservative person, I am not religious, I'm not a Republican (I'm not even American) and I don't equate video games with real-life violence.

Eh I guess there's a few of us. I mean if it's open world vehicular carnage I loved the Carmageddon games back in the day, but while there are things I'd certainly admire about the series playing the gangsta/thug life has never appealed to me. Same thing with shows The Godfather, Goodfella's, Scarface, Sopranos, and so on. The fact that this is a genre that tends to be widely popular means there some form of romanticized appeal to the mobster lifestyle, but I've just never felt it. To me these organizations/people are scumbags that are a plague on our society and their popularity in media has always left me conflicted.

I always saw the popularity of such things as a sign that people hate being constantly fucked over by the system, and seeing as most people aren't being shot at or stolen from by gangsters.
Everyone has the money they earn constantly taken by a government full of corrupt assholes who get rich off of everyone.

Romanticizing criminals, is just another form of the repressed masses seeing someone with "the balls" to fight back in a heroic light, whether or not people seeing them that way is right or wrong is meaningless, the governments/authority figures we're stuck working for/under, are just as corrupt and bad as far as most people are concerned.

 

[Adon Cabre]

That's a nice sales figure. I'll be waiting on my PC version though. I want to play this thing in full graphics and smooth framerates without having to resort to partial HDD loading and disc reading at the same time to make it work.

They will be porting this game to PS4 and Xbone soon most likely and before that probably a PC version to maximize profits.

200 million is a steep pricetag and I blissfully ignored any reviews or stories people have about this game because I want to see what the game is first hand. Is it another bi-polar mess like GTA's story line. Where the characters and the story were excellent had they been in any other game.

[HEADING=3]You still think it's going to the PC?[/HEADING]

That's optimism for sure. Rockstar has NO need for risking what will likely be RECORD BREAKING PIRACY rates because its the biggest game of the last two years.

Let's be honest. They didn't trust Red Dead Redemption on the PC, and they won't be risking a dime on torrent sites. If a small indie like "gentlemen!" can be ripped over 100,000+ times, GTAV's numbers will be legendary.

[HEADING=3]conspiracy?[/HEADING]
Especially if PC users get the idea that console sales did more than enough to compensate for them -- that's a thief's mentality, and there's no denying it.

Obvious troll is obvious. Piracy bla bla bla! Danger for publisher bla bla bla!

Yeah they also said LA Noire would never hit PC.

They will probably announce the PC version roughly around Christmas, maybe in the months after it, the same time as they do with the PS4 version and the Xbone version. They are simply maximizing profits with timed exclusivity for the old gen, then switching to the new gen and then getting to the PC.

Anyway, I always laugh when people talk about "Bringing something to the PC" the dev version IS a PC version. You can't program a game on a 360.

Wow, you came up with that last observation all by yourself? Oh that's right, games are made on a PC! Oh my god what a revelation!

LA Noir did not sell well on the PC; but it wasn't an open world game like RDR; and it's not always about maximizing your profits when you have to weigh the chances of your software getting stolen. In other words, you'll be waiting a long time for a PC release, if it ever comes.

 

[NiPah]

Am I the only one around here who finds GTA repulsive? I love the idea of open-world, but unless I play the entire game muted and skip every disgusting cut-scene, I just feel dirty playing the game.

And before everyone labels me, I am not a particularly conservative person, I am not religious, I'm not a Republican (I'm not even American) and I don't equate video games with real-life violence.

No there are several people around here that don't like GTA for various reasons (and dear god do they let you know about it). Take for example MrBaskerville above us who can't understand the mass appeal of this game, amazing that after all this time he has yet to find a satisfactory reason for others to enjoy this game.

 

[1337mokro]

LA Noir did not sell well on the PC; but it wasn't an open world game like RDR; and it's not always about maximizing your profits when you have to weigh the chances of your software getting stolen. In other words, you'll be waiting a long time for a PC release, if it ever comes.

It's a good thing I have the patience to wait. Something many twitching eye console gamers lack it seems.

 

[Genocidicles]

So I guess the mainstream publishers are going to stop copying COD and start copying GTA?