In case you missed it, Take-Two Interactive released its Q2 2024 earnings report on Wednesday, where, among other things, it confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 is still on track for a fall 2025 release. However, one thing that others may have missed is Take-Two's acknowledgment that the end of Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online is near.
As per the report, GTA 5 and GTA Online surpassed expectations with GTA 5 now selling over 205 million units worldwide, up from its previous number of copies sold. GTA Online also "outperformed" expectations, buoyed by a series of popular updates over the past quarter, including the Bottom Dollar Bounties update and Assault on ATT-16 mode.
The sustained revenue also reinforces the success of the quality-of-life updates late into the game's lifecycle, including the controversial BattlEye anti-cheat update, which it continues to refine albeit at the expense of Steam Deck and Linux players—Rockstar Games and Valve are reportedly working on a resolution.
While GTA Online and GTA 5 continues to remain popular with GTA+ seeing a 35% jump in year-over-year revenue, Take-Two is aware that GTA 5 won't last forever as evidenced by the flattening of the game's Recurrent Consumer Spending with a decline expected for the rest of the year.
To be fair, this was both expected and inevitable, but the thing that partially caused it is also a solution, and it is almost here. With GTA 6 close to launching, Rockstar is expected to start devoting fewer resources towards maintaining GTA Online in its current form.
However, where there's "bad" news, there's also good news. Take-Two continues to look forward to "record levels" of revenue growth over the next two fiscal years, with a lineup of upcoming new installments headlined by GTA 6.
With Borderlands 4, Mafia: The Old Country, and Judas scheduled for the next two years, Take-Two has every right to look forward to a substantial financial jump even outside of the practically guaranteed bombastic success of the next Grand Theft Auto.
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If it's any consolation, Rockstar appears to be saving GTA 5's best year for its last. It's fresh off a widely popular content update that brought players back to North Yankton. The winter update is expected to continue this trend.
GTA 5 will also be getting a much-needed upgrade on the PC with the release of Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded and Enhanced two years after it was released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X.
