After nearly four years on the market, you'd expect that Grand Theft Auto 5 would have evened out by now in terms of how much money it rakes in, but it hasn't. According to Take Two Interactive's latest earnings call for Q1 2018, GTA V is killing it sales, and it's all thanks to GTA Online.
Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick reported that "Grand Theft Auto Online delivered its best quarter ever" in Q1 and was "was once again the single largest contributor to recurrent consumer spending." Just how well is GTA Online doing four years on? Well, Zelnick claims that June and July were the "two biggest months ever for Grand Theft Auto Online monthly active users."
Because of how well the game is doing and how much money people are willing to put into it, Rockstar Games will continue to "support the game going forward." It's unclear if that means Rockstar will include single-player in their support or not, but it's not likely. It is much more likely that "support" means additional free updates like Gunrunning – especially with Red Dead Redemption on the way.
Another statement on the earnings call write-up stated that Take Two had found it "necessary to extend the life of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online."
Back in June 2016, Zelnick made it clear that Rockstar and Take Two would have to "rest the franchise" at some point and that GTA Online had never been intended to be permanent. With news of Rockstar supporting the game in the future, it looks like GTA Online's shelf life just got a little bit longer.
Hopefully all that GTA support is coming with a little single-player love.
