Grand Theft Auto V – which was originally released in 2013 – has now sold 155 million units, according to a recent financial update from Take Two. This is significant growth, as the game has sold a mere 90 million copies as of April 2018.
The publisher reported an ‘outstanding quarter’ with net bookings of $985 million driven largely by back-catalogue titles including Borderlands 3, NBA 2K and the seemingly immortal GTA V and GTA Online.
Exceeding Expectations
Earnings for the quarter exceeded T2’s expectations and increased 3% over the previous year. The company also reported a 7% increase in recurrent spending for the quarter. Take Two had anticipated an 11% decrease in this area, so the performance exceeded expectations by a significant amount.
This growth comes at a point where many analysts and industry observers have been predicting a sharp decline in gaming revenues and engagement, as regions around the world return to ‘normal’ following the Covid-19 related lockdowns.
In addition to GTA V’s onoing success, Grand Theft Auto Online also continues to perform well. The recent The Los Santos Tuners update increased player engagement. Recent consumer spending has increased 33%, while the active player audience increased 11% the strongest second quarter on record. This follows the game’s strongest ever year in 2020.
GTA V Sales
For the quarter, Take-Two posted revenues of $858 million (a 2% increase) for the quarter, while its GAAP net income was down 90% year over year to $10.3 million – falling short of the projected $41-51 million.
Looking ahead, Take-Two is raising its outlook for Fiscal Year 2022, and is now expecting to achieve net bookings of $3.3 to $3.4 billion. The company said that it is focused on bringing new intellectual properties to market in order to diversify its portfolio.
However… it also reported that it is working to ‘deliver sequels to existing franchises‘.
