GTA Online Is Still Making Bank, Says Take-Two
By Jasmine Henry 21 January 2016
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick reveals that Grand Theft Auto Online recently had its best week ever, and that players are still “highly engaged” with the mode.
Earlier this week, Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two revealed that Grand Theft Auto 5 has now shipped over 60 million copies. While Trevor, Michael and Franklin’s criminal antics in the main campaign have been a huge reason for that figure, multiplayer mode Grand Theft Auto Online is surely a big factor too.
GTA Online may have had a rocky launch during its initial, last-gen release but with regular updates such as the recent Drop Zone game mode, GTA Online players have had more than a few reasons to keep coming back. In fact, so many players are playing GTA Online, that it continues to set records for itself.
Speaking during the company’s earnings briefing, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed that GTA Online players are still “highly engaged” and that over the recent holiday season, the mode had its best week ever in terms of number of active players and revenue (the mode features microtransactions).
Unfortunately, Zelnick didn’t disclose specific numbers for the holiday season (though prior to the holidays, 8 million people were playing GTA Online a week), but the Take-Two boss did acknowledge why the game has such a “high engagement.” GTA Online‘s seasonal updates – the Halloween Surprise which included a hearse and new masks, and the Festive Surprise which included Santa outfits and Christmas-themed card horns – were both mentioned as factors. Additionally, Zelnick said that the Executives and Other Criminals update (which introduced a Super Yacht) and the Lowriders update (which introduced the iconic bouncing cars) were a massive appeal too.
On the one hand, GTA Online players will be glad to hear that the mode they’ve put so much time in is doing so well. There is already so much to do in the game – from car and character customization to the huge range of Adversary modes – but this success surely means that Rockstar will continue to support it for quite some time. Moreover, those updates will hopefully tide players over until the next Grand Theft Auto game is released.
Others, however, are already speculating that this is the reason why the game’s story DLC has proved so elusive. It does look like that DLC is on the way (if teasers from Franklin’s voice actor are to be believed) but if GTA Online is still making bank and fans are asking for updates, some fear that Rockstar will postpone its release even further.
Are you enjoying GTA Online? Or would you rather play some GTA 5 story DLC? Leave a comment and let us know.
Source: GameSpot
