GTA 5 Ships 34 Million Units — More Than Borderlands 2, BioShock Infinite, and NBA 2K14 Combined

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August 6, 2014

Take-Two today announced its financial results for its first fiscal quarter (ended June 30, 2014). Certainly the biggest news is that Evolve has been pushed back until February, but the company also revealed sales figures for several of its games, including Grand Theft Auto V, which has now shipped 34 million units.

That figure is up one million units since Take-Two's previous financial briefing in April, and is sure to grow further later this year, when an enhanced version is released on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. GTA V was already one of the best-selling games of all-time, and this brings it closer to surpassing another of the top sellers, Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii, which has sold 35.53 million units. Unfortunately, we don't know just how many of GTA V's 34 million copies have actually sold through to consumers--the shipped numbers Take-Two provides represent the numbers sold to retailers.

Take-Two posted a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) loss for the quarter of $35.4 million, which is less than the $61.9 it lost during the same period a year ago. Coming off a record-setting year, this may sound surprising, but the company notes it didn't have any "major new releases" in the quarter. It called attention to its strong recurrent consumer spending--basically, ways of allowing gamers to continue spending money on a game after buying it--citing Grand Theft Auto Online (GTA V's multiplayer component) and NBA 2K14 as the two primary contributors.

A number of sales figures for Take-Two's games were revealed during the call. NBA 2K14 has shipped more than 7 million units, Borderlands 2--already 2K's best-selling game ever--is over 10 million units, Civilization V is over 6 million units, and BioShock Infinite is approaching 7 million units. Combined, those four games still haven't shipped as many copies of GTA V.

Zelnick said Take-Two is "well-positioned to deliver non-GAAP profits every year for the foreseeable future." He also mentioned Take-Two has "groundbreaking new intellectual properties" in development in addition to new entries in existing franchises, though he offered no indication as to what any of these games might be. My fingers are crossed for a new Bully or Red Dead.