It's official, the GTA franchise now has a license to print money. After Take-Two announced earlier this week that day one sales of Grand Theft Auto 5 had reached $800 million, we've since learned that worldwide, and in only three days, the game has topped sales of a mammoth $1 billion.
"We believe this marks the fastest that any entertainment property, including video games and feature films, has reached this significant milestone," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. "Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment. We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary critical and commercial response to Grand Theft Auto 5."
This would put GTA 5 alongside other top earners in the industry, which according to Business Insider includes the first Call of Duty: Black Ops, World of Warcraft, MarioKart for the Wii, WiiPlay, and New Super Mario Bros., all of which grossed over $1 billion in sales.
Given that only a few games have managed to hit such sales figures, Grand Theft Auto 5's accomplishment is certainly an impressive feat. To everyone but Peter Molyneux apparently.
In what sounds like a bit of sour grapes, the Fable creator decreed that the game's sales are apparently "not impressive."
Speaking at a mobile innovation conference with Mobile Entertainment last night, the developer predicted "It [GTAV] will achieve around $1 billion in revenue on consoles in just one month," after noting the game's popularity. "Sounds impressive doesn't it?" Molynuex asked rhetorically before adding "No. That's not impressive."
Molyneux went on to compare GTA 5's sales to mobile games like Supercell's "Hay Day and Clash of Clans. Those games, which were released 18 months ago, are achieving revenue between $3 million and $5 million each day. That is impressive."
Granted, it is impressive, but "freemium" games like Clash of Clans have an entirely different business model than the Grand Theft Auto series, one where customers arguably "pay to win," a highly criticized model despite the popularity of such games.
In any rate, with heavy shopping holidays like Christmas and Black Friday just around the corner, expect Grand Theft Auto 5's numbers to climb even higher.
