Grand Theft Auto V has now claimed the throne as the best-selling video game of all time in the United States.
Sales for the open-world game are still going strong despite being launched more than four years ago, and its online component has played a huge part in the continued interest in Grand Theft Auto V.
Grand Theft Auto V: The Best-Selling Video Game Ever In The US
Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto V has carved its place in history, with sales in North America reaching 85 million copies. The figure eclipses the previous record of 82.3 million copies, held by Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii.
Wii Sports sales soared to such a massive number primarily because it shipped alongside the extremely successful Nintendo Wii. When it was released as a standalone title, Nintendo Wii owners were still interested in the game as it was a great way of taking advantage of the console's then-unique capabilities.
Grand Theft Auto V, meanwhile, owes its longevity partly on the number of platforms where it is available. The game, originally released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, has also been rolled out to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
GTA Online: The Lifeblood Of 'GTA V'
The primary reason for the still-going-strong sales of Grand Theft Auto V is GTA Online, its online component that Rockstar Games has continued to support. A recent addition to the content is Transform Races, where players race across land, sea, and air tracks in one go. Rockstar also just released a new update that adds the P-45 Nokota single-seater plane and a 1-on-1 Dogfight mode to GTA Online.
GTA Online remains so popular that it allowed Grand Theft Auto V sales to increase by another 5 million copies in just six months, as the sales figure for the game stood at 80 million in May.
It is almost unheard of that a 4-year-old game is still at the top of video game sales charts, but Grand Theft Auto V is an anomaly. Players do not care about how old the game is though, as the updates to GTA Online keep it interesting, and neither does publisher Take-Two Interactive, as Grand Theft Auto V continues to rake in real money from microtransactions.
Take-Two Interactive is now hoping that Red Dead Redemption 2, which was delayed to spring 2018 from its initial release date of fall this year, will have even a fraction of the success enjoyed by Grand Theft Auto V.
