That’s a lot of reckless violence
You may have already known this, but a lot of people have played Grand Theft Auto. Like, a whole lot. Like, so many that the franchise is approaching the quarter-billion mark for sold-in units.
Take-Two Interactive recently filed an SEC reportthat revealed more than 220 million units shipped for the Grand Theft Auto series. More than 54 million of those can be attributed to Grand Theft Auto V, which has been wildly successful on all platforms. Take-Two calls fiscal 2015 “one of [its] best years ever.” With numbers like that, it’s easy to see why.
An important distinction to make is that units sold-in/shipped is not the same as sales to consumers. It simply indicates how many games were sold to retailers. Also, the report is unclear as to whether digital sales are included in this statistic.
Regardless, it’s a figure that shareholders can get behind. A meaningless but interesting way to look at it is that’s one Grand Theft Autogame for every 32 people on earth. Suddenly, it’s easy to see how this franchise permeated mainstream culture the way it has. And, it’s probably not slowing down anytime soon.
Form 8-K Take-Two Interactive for August 17, 2015 [SEC via IGN]