GTA 5 Ships 85 Million Copies, Surpassing Wii Sports

Take-Two today reported earnings for the quarter ended September 30, and among the notable takeaways is that Grand Theft Auto V continues to soar. The open-world action game has now shipped an astonishing 85 million copies since its launch in September 2013. That's up from the 80 million shipment figure that Take-Two disclosed in May.

Take-Two says GTA V is now the "all-time best-selling video game" ever in the US, based on revenue and units sold, across digital and physical platforms. The game has now surpassed Wii Sports, which sold 82.83 million units worldwide. Notably, Wii Sports was a pack-in game for the Wii, while GTA V is and has been sold on its own.

GTA Online is also a huge hit. The game had its "best quarter yet" in terms of the money that it brought in, Take-Two said, though it did not share any specific revenue figures.

Overall, Take-Two's revenue for the quarter came to $443.6 million, up from $420.2 million during the same period last year. Also of note is that Take-Two's "recurrent consumer spending" category, which comprises virtual currency, DLC, and microtransactions, jumped by a substantial 66 percent. Revenue from recurrent consumer spending made up almost half--48 percent--of Take-Two's total revenue during the quarter. Take-Two called out games like NBA 2K17, GTA Online, GTA V, WWE SuperCard, WWE 2K17, and XCOM 2 as top performers in this category.

Take-Two also called out NBA 2K18 as having a successful launch. It has shipped more than 6 million units since launch, up 20 percent compared to NBA 2K17. Recurrent consumer spending for the game, i.e. microtransactions, grew 57 percent, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said during an earnings call. He added that Take-Two is "very pleased" with the game's performance on Nintendo Switch. Finally, Zelnick added that NBA 2K18 is expected to become Take-Two's best-selling sports game ever.

During the earnings call, Take-Two management also revealed that L.A. Noire has now shipped 7.5 million copies. The game is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch later this month, with a virtual reality version also on the way.

Revenue from digitally delivered content amount to $302.9 million, up 31 percent compared to $230.8 million during the same period last year. Digitally delivered net revenue made up 68 percent of Take-Two's total revenue of $443.6 million. NBA 2K17, GTA Online, GTA V, XCOM 2, and WWE SuperCard were the largest contributors.

Catalog sales, that is, sales of older titles, came in strong, too. Catalog sales totaled $310.5 million, led by the GTA and NBA 2K franchises, among others.

Overall, Take-Two posted a loss of $2.7 million for the quarter, down substantially from the profit of $36.4 million that the company made during the same period last year.

"Our positive momentum continued in the second quarter, enabling Take-Two to deliver another period of better-than-expected operating results," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a news release. "Grand Theft Auto Online delivered its best quarter yet, Net Bookings from Grand Theft Auto V grew year-over-year, and we enjoyed the successful launch of NBA 2K18, which generated growth in both units sold and recurrent consumer spending."

Take-Two is currently holding an earnings call to discuss these results and answer analyst questions. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.