The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) video game franchise is a highly popular open-world action-adventure series developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The series is known for its satirical take on American culture, its strong emphasis on storytelling, and its ability to push the limits of open-world game design.
The first game in the series, simply titled “Grand Theft Auto,” was released in 1997 for MS-DOS and later ported to PlayStation. It was a top-down, 2D game that allowed players to take on the role of a criminal who could steal cars, commit crimes, and complete missions in a fictional city called “Liberty City.”
The second game, “Grand Theft Auto 2,” was released in 1999 and continued in the same top-down, 2D style, but with improvements in graphics, gameplay, and mission variety.
The series really hit its stride with the release of “Grand Theft Auto III” in 2001. This game moved to a 3D open-world design, allowing players to explore a fully realized, immersive city called “Liberty City” in a way that had never been seen before. The game was highly praised for its engaging storyline, memorable characters, and open-world freedom.
Since then, the franchise has continued to release highly successful titles such as “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” “Grand Theft Auto IV,” “Grand Theft Auto V,” and most recently, “Grand Theft Auto Online.” The series has also been the subject of numerous controversies due to its mature content, violence, and depiction of criminal activities.
Grand Theft Auto Franchise Stats:
Here are a few of the most interesting Grand Theft Auto franchise stats and facts I was able to dig up. As always, be sure to check back in the future as I will be updating this post as new and updated stats become available.
- Grand Theft Auto franchise player count: 400 million games sold (2023)
- Grand Theft Auto player count: 3 million game units sold worldwide (2013)
- Grand Theft Auto 2 player count: 2 million game units sold worldwide (2013)
- Grand Theft Auto III player count: 17.5 million game copies sold
- Grand Theft Auto Vice City player count: 20 million game copies sold
- Grand Theft Auto IV player count: 25 million game copies sold
- Grand Theft Auto San Andreas player count: 27.5 million game copies sold
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars player count: 1.2 million game units sold worldwide (2013)
- GTA 5 player count: 195 million games sold (2024)
- Number of copies of Grand Theft Auto V sold in 2017: 15 million copies
- Amount of music Grand Theft Auto V players have listened to on it: 75 billion minutes (2018)
- Amount GTA V has earned in revenue since launch: $6 billion (2018)
- Amount GTA V earned in its first 24 hours of sales: $800 million
- Amount GTA V earned in its first three days: $1 billion
- Number of copies sold in the UK in the game’s first week: 2 million
- Amount of time Twitch viewers spent watching GTA V content on it in all of 2019: 523 million hours
- Grand Theft Auto V was the best-selling game of the 2010’s in the US.
That’s all for now. Be sure to check back soon as we update all video game stats as soon as more are provided.