The famed Grand Theft Auto franchise is just 45 million units away from achieving half a billion total units sold across all entries in the series. Currently, gamers are eagerly anticipating the long-awaited release of the sixth mainline Grand Theft Auto game, which, after being delayed out of 2025, is now scheduled for release on May 26, 2026. Set in a modern-day Vice City, Grand Theft Auto 6 will introduce a pair of "Bonnie and Clyde"-style protagonists in Jason and Lucia.
It's been well over a decade since the franchise's most recent mainline entry, Grand Theft Auto 5, in 2013. Its live service counterpart, GTA Online, has largely become the series' main focus since then, while developer Rockstar Games went on to release Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018. GTA 5 has become one of the best-selling games of the past decade, having earned around $10 billion since release, and famously crossing the $1 billion mark faster than any entertainment product in history.
May 26 is Going to Be a Massive Day for the Gaming Industry Next Year
May 26, 2025 isn't a particularly exciting time for gamers, but this time next year is going to have a massive impact on the industry.
GTA is 45 Million Units Away from Half a Billion
In a new earnings call by video game publisher Take-Two Interactive, the lifetime unit sales of the entire Grand Theft Auto franchise were revealed. Across its five mainline titles and all its spin-offs, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold a whopping 455 million units, which means it's just 45 million units short of half a billion. Impressively, Grand Theft Auto 5 accounts for nearly half of these total units, having sold 215 million copies since 2013.
With GTA 6 coming out in less than a year, it's entirely plausible that it could boost the franchise past the 500 million mark by the end of 2026. The game is being hailed as perhaps the most highly anticipated game release of all time, and the numbers on both its YouTube trailers support it. As for the older titles in the GTA franchise, the report doesn't parse out exactly how many units each release contributed to GTA' s current 455 units, but it can be assumed that, aside from GTA 5, Grand Theft Auto 4, Vice City, and San Andreas likely put up major numbers for the franchise. If Grand Theft Auto continues to be this wildly popular and successful, there's no question it'll reach one billion units at some point many decades from now; it'll just be a matter of when.
With Grand Theft Auto 6 on its way next year, fans will most likely see another trailer or two before its big release. One of these is likely to be a voiced-over gameplay trailer like recent GTA and Red Dead Redemption games have had in the past. Perhaps GTA 6 will have a new trailer drop before the end of 2025, as its latest one came in May. It'll be fascinating to see how quickly GTA 6 propels the franchise past the 500 million units mark after the game releases next year.
Grand Theft Auto 5
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 92%
- Released
- September 17, 2013
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar North
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Rockstar Advanced Game Engine
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action
