I cannot believe I am writing about Grand Theft Auto V seven years after it was released. The game’s popularity became very clear when it was available for free in 2020. From May 14 to 21anyone could claim GTA V for free at the Epic Games Store. The demand was so great, the store was brought offline. In a tweet, the Epic Games Store acknowledged the problems with the site – “slow loading times, 500 errors, or launcher crashing” – and promised a swift solution. The amount of attention this spree attracted brought up the question of how GTA V is still popular.

GTA V is an action-adventure open world game released in 2013 by Rockstar Games and developed by Rockstar North. The game is known for supporting a lot of reckless behavior, mostly channeled through one of the three protagonists, Trevor – including but not limited to robbing stores, stealing and flying a jet, blowing up a blimp, breaking into an army base, and murdering oh so many people. Despite its list of accolades, GTA V was criticized for excessive violence and misogyny. In 2014, Target Australia pulled GTA V from its shelves in response to a petition which condemned the game’s depictions of violence against women. Despite the critiques and the controversies, GTA V has still sold over “120 million copies, 4x the sale of its closest comparable rival,” according to Forbes. The “comparable rival” part refers to other bundle-free, big budget games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (30 million copies sold) and Red Dead Redemption 2 (27 million copies sold). So why does GTA V consistently make the top 10 sales charts since its release? Between articles from Polygon and Variety, we have a few decent answers.

1. Just like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, GTA V is versatile and a go-to game for new gamers. A player can just as easily choose between meticulously planning heists and going on missions or driving around and exploring the city. Similarly, following the release of GTA Online, a player can also choose between single-player and multi-player mode. The graphics may not be as advanced as newer games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but the vast variety of locations and activities make up for that.
2. Considering its consistently high sales and its overall success, the game is relatively cheap. Over the past twelve months, GTA V has been marked down from $50 on Steam to as low as $14.99. As previously mentioned, the game was even free in mid-May.
3. Paul Tassi of Forbes suspects that the timing of GTA V’s original release was very convenient. The game came out at the end of the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 generation, and then was re-released in 2014 during the PlayStation 4/Xbox One generation. In other words, the game got to sell copies for two console generations. Add sales for the PC version released in 2015 and you have a cross-platform, cross-generation monster.
4. Streamers playing GTA Online on role-playing servers (like “No Pixel” on Twitch) helped popularize the game. The thousands of viewers watching these streams drove up the number of GTA V players on Steam, but their effect on console sales is unclear.
5. GTA Online is discreet – its fame is not as talked about as its single player counterpart – but it has a consistent player base the size of a small army. A lot of money goes into the online version, both by impatient players hoping to achieve more items and by the developer itself. Rockstar has stopped adding content to single player mode in order to focus on frequently updating GTA Online. For instance, the 2019 update added the Diamond Casino & Resort, which came with brand new activities, more missions, and a big heist. This constant addition of content keeps the game from becoming old news and falling off the charts.

Bonus:

A possible reason why the game is so successful is that it lets you be extremely chaotic with barely any repercussions. If you die, you respawn walking out of the hospital. If you obliterate your car, you can get another one. It’s called Grand Theft Auto after all. Personally, my earliest and favorite memory of this game was driving into oncoming traffic on the highway, flipping the car off the ledge, and promptly crashing right into a gas station and disappearing behind a fiery explosion.

Do you agree with these reasons? Are there any that weren’t mentioned? Let us know on our @aslcgaming Twitter or Instagram account!
 

Written by: Isabella Massardi | Instagram

Art by: Kayla Young | Slightly modified from this source