Grand Theft Auto Franchise Ships 125 Million Units
by William D'Angelo, posted on 28 November 2012 / 5,572 Views
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke at the Cred Suisse Technology Conference and has announced that the Grand Theft Auto franchise has reached 125 million units shipped. The previous figure was 114 million units shipped in September 2011.
A Take-Two representative speaking with GameSpot said that Grand Theft Auto IV has shipped 25 million units.
"Grand Theft Auto has the highest quality of any title, which is why it is the standard-bearer in the business. It's why it's sold 125 million units. I would argue that saying to people 'make a perfect-rated title that's the standard bearer in the business and do it on this every-other-year schedule' not only isn't realistic, but it also runs the risk of taking a very special franchise and making it less special," said Zelnick.
Zelnick was asked about the success of Call of Duty and how the series sells so well despite being an annual release. He said Take-Two takes a different approach than Activision.
"[Activision] has done a terrific job fielding two teams and still putting out a very high quality product," said Zelnick. "It's our view that if you want intellectual property to be permanent, then you run the risk in that circumstance of having consumers fall out of love with that franchise. [Activision] obviously view the world differently. I have enormous respect for [Activision CEO Bobby Kotick] and the team. It's a different approach than ours."
