Grand Theft Auto Mainline Series: A Sales History - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 24 April 2012 / 22,281 Views
Welcome to the second new weekly feature, “A Sales History.” The other weekly feature is the “Top 10 in Sales.” Seb Parker had originally started this feature back in July, taking a look at the sales of video game franchises, such as Halo, Pokémon and Gran Turismo. As a weekly feature we will be exploring the sales history of the biggest franchises in the industry, to the most niche franchises.
Like with the “Top 10 in sales” and “USA Preorders” features, requests are always welcome. Now for the second article we will be taking a look at the mainline Grand Theft Auto games on a home console which include Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV.
Sales Overview
As you can see from the graph above, the Grand Theft Auto franchise was predominantly a PlayStation franchise, until the current generation where the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV has slightly outsold the PlayStation 3 version. The Xbox version of the games from the last generation only sold a fraction of the PlayStation 2 versions, which were released on the PlayStation 2 a year or two ahead of the Xbox versions. Also while the first two in the franchise were a hit, it wasn’t until the third game that it became one of the bestselling franchises in video game history.
In the chart above, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has achieved lifetime to date sales of 85.10 million, which makes it one of the bestselling franchises in history. The top four games sold a similar amount with sales for all four being within 2.76 million of 20 million. San Andreas and Vice City which used the same engine as Grand Theft Auto III and were released one and two years apart are the bestselling in the franchise.
Platform
63 percent of sales for the Grand Theft Auto franchise were sold on the PlayStation 2. Each successive game sold more, with San Andreas outselling Vice City by 2.59 million and Grand Theft Auto III by 5.99 million. San Andreas and Vice City are the two bestselling games on the PlayStation 2 and Grand Theft Auto III the fourth bestselling. All three games combined sold 53.85 million units.
The Grand Theft Auto games on the PlayStation 2 were later released on the original Xbox. Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were released as a double pack, which is why both versions have sold 2.49 million copies each. San Andreas which was released just five months before the Xbox 360 launched, sold half a million units less than the other two games. All three games combined sold 6.93 million units.
The first two Grand Theft Auto games which were only available on the PlayStation where hits, but weren’t the bestselling games of their time, like the PlayStation 2 ones were. Grand Theft Auto 2 was the 36th bestselling PlayStation game, while the original Grand Theft Auto was the 57th. Both games combined sold 5.74 million units.
Grand Theft Auto IV the only mainline game in the franchise to be released on the current generation of consoles. Sales are evenly split between the Xbox 360 version and PlayStation 3 version, as it sold to a combined 18.58 million copies.
Predictions for Future Releases
Grand Theft Auto V was announced last November; however no official release or platform has been given at this time. Current rumors are that the game will be released December 2012 or Spring 2013. That would mean a release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and possibly the Wii U which would be available at that time. If the game is released this holiday season expect the game to be more frontloaded, while if it is released Spring 2013 expect the game to have a slightly lower first week sales, however it should have stronger legs. Overall sales shouldn’t make much of difference.
The Xbox 360 version should sell between 4 and 5 million units opening week. More than Grand Theft Auto IV which sold 3.29 million units opening week due to the Xbox 360 install base being higher. Expect the game to sell between 9 and 10 million units by the time it stops selling.
The PlayStation 3 version should sell between 3.5 and 4.5 million units opening week. Expect the game to sell between 8.5 million and 9.5 million units by the time it stops selling. Just like with Grand Theft Auto IV it will sell roughly 500,000 less than the Xbox 360 version.
If the game is on the Wii U expect it to sell between 200,000 and 400,000 opening week depending on the install base. The game being one of the first AAA games on the system should mean strong legs and should end up selling between 1 and 1.5 million units by the time it is done selling.
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No PC = a little bit pointless
The lack of PC sales data really irks me.
It would be interesting if you post Sales History of Final Fantasy Series.
great sales ! but i think you're forgetting PC sales + Portable sales (PSP - DS) ,the two psp versions sold more than 10M !
It would be interesting if you post Sales History of Final Fantasy Series.
this sales are bullshit rockstar themself said that GTA SA sold over 27.5 million copies in 2011 and GTA IV sold over 25 million copies in 2012
For Take-Two's latest official sales figures, search "GTA IV Overtakes San Andreas in Lifetime Sales [Correction]" on Google. It should be the first result. San Andreas has sold 27.5 million, while GTA IV has sold 22 million.
I wish VGChartz would at least acknowledge official sales so this article would have a little more relevance.
On a side note, I think GTA V will sell as well as IV, and probably some more. I'm not sure if it will surpass San Andreas, but it will be interesting nevertheless.
Now some developer needs to invest $300 million in an open-world futuristic city with flying cars and other incredible technologies. GOTY all years.
Great article, keep it up vgchartz
its a beast of a series and all thats wrong with us apparently,i remember the top down PS1 games fondly
Has no one read this article?
http://kotaku.com/5840484/gta-iv-overtakes-san-andreas-in-lifetime-sales
It's straight from Rockstar's mouth, but everyone seems to be using old data. It's going to be hard to outsell San Andreas, that's for sure, but GTA V looks to be an improvement on the dreary atmosphere of IV.
did we include the DS game and Tales of Liberty City ?
did we include the DS game and Tales of Liberty City ?
The original on the PC was the best version by far. Used to love that game.Lack of PC ales is a little disappointing otherwise a good artical though.
YUNO PC sales???
I expected the PS2 and XB sales of San Andreas to be a LOT closer than that.
The game was released first on PS2.
