How much money has GTA 5 made till 2023? Earnings explored ahead of GTA 6 release

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 celebrated its 10-year anniversary this year. While some may argue that the series has better entries, this title has become Rockstar Games' most profitable asset. As revealed by Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar's parent company) earlier this year, the game has sold over a whopping 190 million units to date, a figure that most franchises can only hope to achieve.

Rockstar is now set to release the debut trailer of its sequel, Grand Theft Auto 6, on December 5, 2023. It has already been 10 years since a new entry in the series, but there might be some time before the next one is out. In the meantime, GTA 5 should continue recording a large number of sales.

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GTA 5's year-by-year sales and how much money it has made ahead of GTA 6 release

Grand Theft Auto 5 was originally released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and within three days, had made over a billion dollars in sales, the fastest ever by any entertainment release in history.

As seen in the video clip above from Fox News, it had made around 800 million dollars in its first 24 hours. By the time it was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2014, the game had sold over 33 million copies worldwide.

These financial figures were possible due to the enormous popularity of the Grand Theft Auto series around the globe. Fans had adored entries such as Vice City, San Andreas, and 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, which resulted in Rockstar's 2013 title surpassing all expectations.

Interestingly, in the mid-2010s, GTA 5 sold between 10 and 15 million units annually. In fact, the game sold an estimated 10 million units in 2018, as per a report by Statista.

Grand Theft Auto 5's year-by-year sales till 2020 (Image via statista.com)

However, its sales skyrocketed once again in 2020. This was due to the lockdowns imposed worldwide because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As people had to work from home, they found a lot more time to invest in gaming, resulting in GTA 5 selling around 20 million copies. Rockstar Games also released Grand Theft Auto 5 Expanded and Enhanced in early 2022, which performed incredibly well financially.

Oddly enough, Grand Theft Auto Online is now available as a stand-alone title and makes a good amount of money for Rockstar and Take-Two.

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Take-Two’s most recent earnings call revealed that Grand Theft Auto 5 has sold 190 million copies in its lifetime, with over five million units in 2023’s Q4 alone. This means that the game has possibly made over 7.7 billion dollars to date.

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The revenue generated from this game not only benefits Rockstar profit-wise but also in funding the development of its sequel, which could be the most expensive game ever made. According to reports, the GTA 6 budget could even be as high as a billion dollars.