GTA 5 sales milestone shows why Rockstar keeps delaying GTA 6

People are still buying new copies of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 and until GTA 6 comes out, those numbers stand to only go up.

You’ve no doubt already heard that GTA 6 has been hit with a second delay. It was going to be out in May next year, but now that wait’s been extended all the way until next November.

By the time GTA 6 does come out, it will have been over 13 years since GTA 5. But while we don’t doubt there’s mounting pressure within Rockstar Games to get it finished, publisher Take-Two Interactive is in a rare position where they can take as long as they like with development.

Despite how long it’s been, GTA 5 still keeps making money for the company, and the latest sales figures from Take-Two are almost shocking in terms of how much the game is still bringing in.

How much has GTA 5 sold?

Speaking with The Game Business, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said GTA 5 has now sold over 220 million units. As a reminder, it had crossed the 200 million mark by May 2024, meaning more than 20 million people have bought a copy of GTA 5 in the last 18 months.

GTA 5 has been the best-selling traditional video game for years (behind only things like Minecraft and Roblox), but it remains staggering that its sales figures are higher than the populations of entire countries.

It had sold double the amount of people living in the UK back in 2021, and these latest figures mean it’s also surpassed the population of Brazil. The next highest population count is Nigeria, according to Worldometer, at over 230 million, and it seems certain GTA 5 will pass that too.

Between the extended wait for GTA 6 and its status as the most anticipated game of all time, it wouldn’t be shocking if more people than ever buy copies of GTA 5 over the next year, just to see what all the fuss is about.

GTA Online is the most important factor in GTA 5’s longevity and player retention, with Zelnick adding that it too has seen a welcome boon in membership.

‘We continue to supply content to GTA Online, and in fact we’ve had terrific results there,’ said Zelnick. ‘And GTA+ continues to grow its membership. In fact, it’s had 20% growth year-over-year.’

The player count is set to rise further, as a new rumour claims GTA 5 will return to the PlayStation Plus game catalogue on November 18, meaning anyone with a PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium subscription can try the game out at no extra cost.

This is according to the ever reliable bilbill-kun at Dealabs, though they suspect GTA 5 won’t be a permanent addition. As a reminder, GTA 5 has been added to the PlayStation Plus catalogue twice before – once in December 2023 and again in November 2024 – but both times it was delisted after six months.

That may be all the time it needs to get new players hooked and encourage them to just purchase a copy of GTA 5 to keep forever.

In related news, Take-Two’s latest earnings report shows that Red Dead Redemption 2 has also hit a new milestone, having now sold more than 79 million units since its 2018 launch.

This now makes it the second best-selling traditional video game of all time, replacing Mario Kart 8 with its total of 76.66 million.

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