GTA 5 ships 33 million copies, as Take-Two posts record annual profit

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May 13, 2014

Rockstar Games' acclaimed open-world action game Grand Theft Auto V has now shipped (not sold) 33 million copies to date, up from 32.5 million three months ago. Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive disclosed the new figure today as part of its earnings report for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. It remains unclear how many copies of GTA V have actually been sold to date, though the game generated $1 billion in its first three days.

To put the 33 million figure into context, Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii--one of the best-selling games in history--has sold-through more than 35.5 million copies life-to-date.

For the quarter, Take-Two posted revenue of $233.2 million, down sharply from $303.1 million last year. Profit was $21.5 million, also a dramatic decrease compared to last year when the company hauled $42.9 million during the quarter. Take-Two called out games like NBA 2K14, GTA V, Grand Theft Auto Online (the online mode for GTA V), Borderlands 2, and BioShock Infinite as top performers during the quarter. Though revenue and profit were down, digitally delivered content jumped a healthy 51 percent to $122.3 million, led by the GTA series, the NBA 2K franchise, and Borderlands 2. Catalog sales made up $75.7 million in the quarter.

For the full year, Take-Two reported revenue of $2.414 billion, up 97 percent from the $1.222 billion last year. Overall, Take-Two posted a profit $510.7 million, up dramatically compared to the $33.1 million the company hauled last year. That's a record for Take-Two, and GTA V's release in September 2013 no doubt played a part. Other top performers for the year, Take-Two said, were GTA Online, BioShock Infinite, NBA 2K14, Borderlands 2, WWE 2K14, and Sid Meier's Civilization V.

Digitally delivered content surged 65 percent year-over-year to a record $435.1 million, led by DLC for games in the GTA series, as well as Borderlands 2, the NBA 2K franchise, Civilization V, and BioShock Infinite.

Take-Two is currently holding a conference call to discuss these results and answer media questions. Be sure to check back for more.