Red Dead Redemption 2 Tops 26 Million Copies, Grand Theft Auto 5 Continues to Be an Unstoppable Juggernaut

115 million copies. It's just absurd.

"Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto V simply cannot be stopped. The still insanely popular release now sits at 115 million copies shipped, which is frankly ridiculous. It somehow managed to sell an additional 5 million units in the last three months or so. Astonishing stuff."

This must kill @Damo so much.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/09/soapbox_why_grand_theft_auto_v_isnt_for_me

And people said they would be surprised if RDR2 sold well. Who wants to buy a 'cowboy' game and why was their hype for this?? Well its already sold more than all but a very small handful of games and its only a year old...

So, yeah, Rockstar is simply, far and away, the biggest and most successful developer in history. Numbers like these blow my mind, frankly. They're unprecedented.

@rjejr Oh yeah, I remember that article. It always struck me as existing at some halfway point between virtue signaling and sour grapes. You know, "I didn't want to play GTA V anyway!" folds arms

The bit about sexism is pretty funny considering how Nintendo Switch has become the new haven for fanservice games of all stripes since Sony went full San Francisco.

Fantastic games both single player and online. These two games are the only reason why I subscribe to PS Plus.

Some of the other publishers must look at this and wonder how they do it. This 6 year old game still outselling new releases.

I think Rockstar must have a money room like Scrooge McDuck by now.

@Arugula Although it means waiting longer for GTA VI we have to assume that the ongoing success of 'V' means that they can make the game as good as they possibly can without any real time pressure. You would hope it will lead to an even better game and easier life for the developers.

@Ralizah You can read my post #13 - written and unedited from 6 years ago - which pretty much says what you just said. And also serves as a bit of an explanation for why I'm linking on PS to an NL article.

To be fair, I still haven't played the game, in part b/c of the way damo described it in that article, in part b/c I haven't had the time - still haven't played Arc the Lad: Twilight Spirits on PS2, my backlog is pretty big. My comment from 6 years ago still stands in it's entirely. I'm too old to have changed that much the past 6 years.

I wrote a longer explanation in post #87 which is probably why that article has stuck w/ me like it has.

I have to say, reading over the comments, it reelly does point out how much BETTER NL was back then. Damo goes at it w/ a few guys but it's all civil. I'm 87 comments in, not once did somebody type SJW, Woke, or snowflake, it's all just people having a difference of opinion. OMG how bad would it be if he wrote that today?!?!?!

I still say he wrote it on the wrong website, taking the easy way out pandering to his audience rather than manning up here and taking the abuse he would have received, but those were most certainly better times on NL.

The SP was fun for a bit and I always found the MP to be more of a frustrating experience. I believe I spent more time in load screens and waiting on lobbies to fill than actually playing the game.

Those sales numbers for GTA V are insane. I must admit to being one of the few people with a PS4 who hasn’t bought this game. I just struggle to get into GTA games. I have a blast running around, picking fights, driving people over etc, but I never want to play the game properly. I’m just not that into real life/criminal style stories in games. One of the few it seems!

I do want to play Vice City at some point though. I do dig the whole 80’s vibe and music, and it makes it seem more fantasy than other GTA games.

@rjejr Incivility isn't really a NL problem. That sort of talk doesn't really happen in the forums, after all. There's less of that sort of thing in comments on here mostly because PS doesn't see as much traffic as NL (by quite a bit, actually; PS has seen millions of fewer visits in the last six months than NL, apparently)

The broader problem is that the internet wasn't an ideological warzone between different factions back then. Social media platforms weren't being openly discriminatory against certain voices and not others. Big corporate entities weren't openly pushing divisive social agendas. Gamergate hadn't even happened yet. Neither did Trump's election, or Brexit.

In terms of the U.S., you didn't have mobs of white supremacists holding giant rallies or antifa goons rioting and threatening speakers on college campuses.

It was a fundamentally different time.

I'm shocked they haven't ported GTAV to the Switch tbh

@Neolit you say that but the Switch seems to have almost as big a foothold in the market right now as Xbox One does (assumption because MS don't want us to know how many they have kicking around in warehousesi guess) yet that gets Rockstar games so wouldn't that also be peanuts to them?

@ApostateMage Same here. I bought PS Plus the last 2 months just for GTAV & RDR2. The True Crimes, Saints Rows, The Getaways gave up along the way. It's almost the end of another gen and no game has been able to match the depth and quality of last gen GTAV. There's no quality western out there to challenge RDR2 or even RDR yet some folk still don't want to understand why these 2 are still selling, wonderful!

Great games with constantly updating and evolving content, free dlc and loads of events and players. It's easy to see why they sell so well.
My son plays gta online all the time but doesn't ever play the actual game, him and his friends do role plays and make their own stories, the game world is that diverse and full.

Milking it, wish they had made another GTA as our previous gen we had so many. Probably try and remaster GTA5 for the ps5 just to make more money.

@TheArt 'It's almost the end of another gen and no game has been able to match the depth and quality of last gen GTAV.'

I know you love your R* games Art but that is hyperbolic. I would argue HZD, MGS 5 and Witcher 3 are better openworld games this gen. TLOU, the order 1886 and what remains of Edith finch have better story telling. The controls are better in just about every other game I have played on ps4.

The reasons GTA V has sold so well is numerous and varied, it was one of the first games as a service this gen, it has pretty deplorable characters which attracts sociopaths, it's easy to play which attracts casuals, it's one of the only games in supermarkets, etc etc. Its a brilliant game, I love it. But it's been surpassed in quality and depth.

Not that it matters and the marketing team at Rockstar do gods work. If Sega spent a tad longer on Yakuza Zero, polished it up and marketed it well it could have been in a similar bracket. But 26 games later its gone the way of Dynasty Warriors. Anyway I digress.

As for your comment on RDR2 that's really spot on. It's a proper period piece game unlike any that have come before it in scope and realism. I'm hoping we get another 1960s GTA with RDR2s scope and style.

@themcnoisy But there aren't any cars, sleeping, stock market investment, property management etc you know like IRL in HZD or Witcher 3. I mean like for real be honest there isn't any game like GTAV, that's why I mentioned the Getaways and Saint Rows who tried to compete but fell off. HZD, Witcher 3 are among my favourites this gen but they are different games to GTA. And please please don't mention MGSV. But at least I'm glad you acknowledge the excellence of RDR2 and how there's none like it. Same with GTAV - there's none like it.

@Neolit Like which other game do you watch TV, browse the internet and make purchases or stock market investment. Drive cars, planes, helicopters (sky cranes, heavylift choppers), bicycles, jetskis. Hang out with your friends, past times - tennis, golf etc. Insane level of customisation of cars, number of clothes that fit. I could go on and on and most of these were already available in San Andreas and to think no other game has managed to craft an actual living-breathing open world since then...Aside from doing side quests and main missions in most other great open worlds, what else do you do? And then you question their high scores and wonder why's it's still selling is beyond me. You might not like it but acknowledge the excellence of Rockstar games is all.

@Neolit what makes you think it would be a measly gain? With just short 40 million Switch's out there it's not exactly a small market to tap into, and I get that it's not the same as porting from PS3 to PS4 but it's a 6 year old game if CDPR can get Witcher 3 working on Switch I see no reason a last gen GTA wouldn't be able to, it could potentially hit extra markets on Switch, people who still only play Nintendo consoles and the people who like the freedom to play on the go

Played GTA on PS1. Played about 35 mins on GTA5 despite owning it on PS3 because i had it for free.. Amazing stats really, perhaps i should try playing it again..