WhenGrand Theft Auto 5was released in 2013, it was the pinnacle of open-world gaming. The game takes players to the fictional state of Los Santos where glitzy consumerism lives alongside a seedy criminal underworld. Exploring its varied regions, its numerous backstreets, and the mysterious Mount Chiliad offers endless hours of fun, and this has allowedGrand Theft Auto 5to thrive for three gaming generations. The game’s longevity has also been extended byGrand Theft Auto: Onlinewhich turns Los Santos into a multiplayer playground where gamers can build up criminal empires and cause urban mayhem with players from around the world.
AlthoughGTA 5’s successhas benefited Rockstar and gamers in several ways, some negatives have come with it, too. Most notably,GTA 5’s profitability has greatly pushed back the release of the next entry in theGTAseries, causing many to grow fatigued by Los Santos, no matter how impressively detailed it is. Furthermore, the high bar set byGTA 5may have raised expectations to an unreasonable degree, leaving Rockstar in a position where only a flawless masterpiece will please gamers.
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Grand Theft Auto 5’s Legendary Success
It is difficult to overstate how impactfultheGrand Theft Autoserieshas been. In a 2021 investor report, Take-Two Interactive revealed that the franchise had sold 350 million copies, and the bulk of those sales are fromGTA 5which has sold over 150 million units. This has translated into plenty of profits, as Take-Two reports thatGTA 5is not just the bestselling game in the USA in the past decade, but it also reached $1 billion in sales faster than any other entertainment product ever.
The success ofGTA 5has allowed the game to, amazingly, survive for three gaming generations. It originally launched on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013, and although it was a technical marvel, it was clear that it was pushing the machines to their limits. Fortunately, remastered versions of the game were released for PS4 and Xbox One the following year, and the re-releases featured several welcome improvements including upgraded weather effects, better texture details, and increased draw distance. Most notably, the remastered introduced a first-person perspective, makingGTA 5’s often violent gameplayfeel even more visceral.GTA 5was ported to PC in 2015 and, in 2022, over eight years after its initial launch, it was remastered for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
GTA 5 Suffers From Success
Grand Theft Auto 5’s long lifespan has been financially lucrative for Rockstar, but it may not have had the best impact onRockstar’s reputation. Although gamers appreciateGTA 5’s impressiveness, for years there have been calls for the next entry in theGTAseries. The demands are somewhat understandable, as this is the longest gamers have waited for a newGTAgame, and the longest wait prior was the 5 years betweenGTA 4and5. The growing impatience has been seen, for instance, when Rockstar released a trailer forGTA 5’s 2022 remaster, and it was met with a deluge of dislikes.
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Part of the pushback is motivated by the fact that, while Los Santos may be a modern gaming marvel, after eight years, many gamers have grown bored with exploring it and are ready to move on to the nextGrand Theft Autoadventure. However, withGTA: Onlineraking in as much money as it still is, and with the recent launch of GTA+, it seems that Rockstar is still keen on wringing Los Santos for all it is worth. While this may be profitable in the short term, only time will tell how this will affect Rockstar’s relationship with gamers in the long term.
Perhaps the most ironic downside ofGTA 5’s success for Rockstar is the fact that it will take a generation-defining title for the studio to meet expectations that have been growing for almost a decade. WhenGTA5hit stores, it achieveda Metacritic score of 97, making it one of the highest-rated games of all time on the site. The near-universal acclaim is not unwarranted, as the game takes everything that has made theGTAfranchise phenomenal, and manages to crank it up to new heights while introducing a heap of new features, including the ability to seamlessly switch between three protagonists.
There are many years to go before the release ofGTA 5’s successor, and already theGTA 6rumorssurrounding the game are incredibly ambitious. Players are anticipating a game that jumps between time periods, features a complex police system, and takes place in an open world that changes dynamically. Although Rockstar has proven itself to be capable of great things numerous times, it will take its greatest work yet to satisfy gamers afterGTA 5, and justify the long wait.
Few games have had as much of an impact asGTA 5, and its place in gaming will, for better or worse, be forever remembered. For three gaming generations, it has supplied Rockstar with a steady stream of sales andGTA: Onlineplayers, ensuring that theGTAseries is one of the most profitable gaming franchises of all time. However,GTA 5cannot live forever, and Rockstar is now faced with the monumental task of looking towards the future and hoping thatGTA 5’s heights are not peaks.
Grand Theft Auto 5is available on PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
