More Than 100 Million Copies of ‘GTA V’ Sold, ‘GTA Online’ Continues to Thrive

The continued success of both “Grand Theft Auto V” and “Grand Theft Auto Online,” along with a solid launch for “NBA 2K19” helped power a strong second quarter for Take-Two Interactive with net revenue growing 11 percent to $492.7 million, as compared to the same time in the last fiscal year, the company said Wednesday.

More than 100 million copies of “Grand Theft Auto V,” which was released in 2013, have now been sold, Take-Two announced Wednesday and the company said “Grand Theft Auto Online” continues to exceed expectations. The online game, it said, will continue to be supported by developer Rockstar Games.

Digitally-delivered net revenue grew 18 percent to $358.4 million, compared to $302.9 last year, accounting for 73 percent of total net revenue. Perhaps not surprisingly, among the largest contributors to that increase were “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Grand Theft Auto Online,” “NBA 2K18,” and “NBA 2K19.”

While “Red Dead Redemption 2,” which launched in October during the company’s third quarter, had game sales that Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick told Variety were “nothing short of miraculous,” he declined to compare the game with “Grand Theft Auto V” which continues to sell five years after release.

“I don’t know if we would want to compare anything to ‘GTA V’ or ‘Online,” he said. “It stands alone as a standard-bearer for our games and the industry.”

Despite the success of Rockstar’s open-world games, Zelnick said he doesn’t see the company changing how any of its other studios function or design games.

“It’s business as usual,” he said. “We have 11 franchises that have sold more than five million units and more than 55 franchises that have sold more than two million units. What we would like to do in any given year is bring frontline titles that reflect our current franchises to market.”

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