On April 14, 2015, GTA V finally returned home. After destroying countless records on consoles, the story of Michael, Trevor and Franklin debuted on PC, sweeping everything in its path. Seven years later, GTA V not only remains one of the most played titles on Steam thanks to its enormous potential, but also gets along very well with modest hardware due to its level of optimization. What can we add about GTA V at this point? Let's see...
Tired of Breaking Records
The original launch of GTA V dates back to September 17, 2013, and in a move we can now call controversial, Rockstar decided to focus its efforts on consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), initially ignoring Windows. In fact, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One received their own versions before PCs due to a technical delay (the original plan was a simultaneous launch on all three platforms).
However, the numbers only gave Rockstar reason. GTA V recorded sales of more than 800 million dollars in its first 24 hours, and it took just three days to cross the 1 billion barrier, thus becoming the fastest-selling entertainment product in history. With a record surpassing 160 million copies, GTA V is the second best-selling game of all time, only behind another titan: Minecraft.
Epic Games Gave It Away in 2020
Yes, I perfectly understand that 2020 got trapped in an impenetrable mental haze for all of us, but in the week from May 14 to 21, the Epic Games Store dropped the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb by giving away GTA V, without tricks or strange maneuvers. All users had to do was join the platform, and unsurprisingly, the wave of potential players looking for their download did nothing but bring fire and destruction upon Epic's servers.
If you missed it, don't worry: GTA V is usually part of discount rounds on Steam and Epic. The Summer Sale is not that far off on the calendar, and there are some scheduled events that could lower its price early. By the way, since we're talking about Steam...
Still in the Top 10 Most Played on Steam
The fans don't seem to give up. GTA V started 2022 with an average of between 85 and 95 thousand daily players, which allows it to comfortably stay in Steam's Top 10. GTA V has managed to withstand the onslaught of very popular free titles (CS:GO, Dota 2, Lost Ark, PUBG and Apex Legends dominate the top spots), and true tanks like Elden Ring. Its trend is not downward, but rather shows a very stable cycle, but...
Fans Are Tired of the Recycling
As expected, Rockstar released optimized versions of GTA V for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X on March 15, but the response from the public and specialized press was lukewarm at best. Basically, fans got tired of Rockstar playing the Bethesda card and simply adapting GTA V to new hardware with minimal changes. As some on the web suggest, while the PlayStation 2 had three Grand Theft Auto games, GTA V had three PlayStations.
Now, Rockstar has an excellent reason to continue this strategy, called GTA Online... but fans are starting to demand more. Obviously, all arrows point to GTA VI: The only thing Rockstar did was confirm at the beginning of February that it started development of "the next installment of the series", and judging by the more than 600 thousand likes on Twitter, there are many ready to move forward. What do you think? Are we ready to retire Michael, Trevor and Franklin? Leave a comment!
