Take Two Interactive announced that the Grand Theft Auto franchise has now shipped 125 million units life to date.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed the milestone in during a presentation at the Credit Suisse 2012 Technology Conference and earlier reported by video game website GameSpot.
According to the GameSpot's article, the figure is up 11 million units from the 114 million that Take-Two previously announced in September 2011. Zelnick did not break down specific number of units shipped per title, but GameSpot did confirm with Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games that Grand Theft Auto IV shipped 25 million units alone.
Zelnick likened the success of the Grand Theft Auto series to the "James Bond" film franchise, which typically doesn't release on an annual or bi-annual schedule. He said the same could be said for Grand Theft Auto games and that helps to keep the series "special, according to GameSpot.
Zelnick said, "It's our view that if you want intellectual properties to be permanent, then you run the risk in that circumstance of having consumers fall out of love with that franchise. [Activision] obviously views the world differently."
According to Zelnick, Call of Duty: Black Ops II did not perform as well as its predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which is a sign that the series is has hit a wall.
"That's never been the case with one of ours," he said. "Ours do better each time. Our view is it's hard to make permanent intellectual properties if you annualize it, with the exception of sports titles. So far that's proven to be the case. IP that is annualized eventually seems to hit the wall and we don't want our IP to hit the wall."
It should be noted that Call of Duty: Black Ops II earned $500 million in worldwide during its first 24 hours of released compared to last year Modern Warfare 3 day one earnings of $400 million in the US and UK. Perhaps he was referring to the game's critical reception. On Metacritic, Black Ops II currently has an 83 score on Xbox 360 and an 81 score on PlayStation 3, which is much lower than Modern Warfare's rating of an 88 on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The latest game in the GTA franchise, Grand Theft Auto V will be releasing in the Spring of 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You can watch the game's second trailer below...
