It’s official, GTA V has done rather well. In addition to breaking all sort of Guinness world records, the game was the best-selling release in 2013, breaking Call Of Duty’s four year run at the top spot.
It was also revealed that the game made more in its first month than the entire global music industry. Taken collectively, the music business makes around $1.4Bn per month. GTA V’s $1Bn in the first three days of release catapulted it beyond the music world in about a week…
An article on financial site, The Motley Fool, puts this in context, highlighting for readers the evolution of the franchise and the scope of the global games sector – from the AAA console games market, to the rapidly growing mobile and casual world:
On the other end, low-end development of cheaper games will continue growing. While most mobile games fail to get traction, the huge user base of over a billion smartphone customers is too great an opportunity to ignore. While a huge hit like Candy Crush Super Saga won’t be bringing in a billion dollars in a month anytime soon, it also costs a fraction to make. Smaller studios can create a higher number of games hoping for just a few to hit and recoup their total development costs.
In the end that means more records smashed from the biggest franchises in the years ahead even as attention continues to build around mobile gaming. The causality here could potentially be mid-tier games without the budget to stand out among the best console games, but too in-depth to appeal to the casual gaming crowd on mobile devices.
In any case, I wouldn’t bet against the next Grand Theft Auto being the first game to hit a billion in sales on its first day of release. Try catching up with that, Hollywood.
You can find the full article on the Motley Fool website. It’s mostly accurate (we take issue with the statement that the original game “met with slightly above average reviews” but we’re like that) and worth reading, to see how the ‘outside world’ perceives the games industry.
Congratulations (again) to the team at Rockstar North. Film industry, we’re coming for you next…
