A game released in 2013 just outsold most of 2026's new releases on PS5 last month. That's the GTA 5 situation in a nutshell, and it explains a lot about why Rockstar Games gets to operate by a completely different set of rules than every other studio in the industry.
Grand Theft Auto V moved an estimated 387,000 copies on PS5 in May alone, contributing to a projected 1.8 million units sold on the platform across 2026 so far. That figure comes from analyst tracking data, and it lines up neatly with what Take-Two Interactive regularly reports in its quarterly financials, where the company consistently logs roughly 5 million additional units sold every quarter across all platforms.
GTA Online still pulling players
What 1.8 million PS5 copies actually means
To put that number in context: GTA 5 placed fifth on PS5 for May 2026. The games above it were 007 First Light (1 million units), Minecraft (788,000), Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (757,000), and EA Sports FC 26 (411,000). A 13-year-old game finishing fifth on a monthly sales chart, ahead of new releases, is not normal. It is not even close to normal.
Here's the thing: this isn't just unit sales. GTA Online is running a parallel revenue engine on top of all of this. Leaked financial data has suggested the multiplayer mode generates somewhere in the neighborhood of $8.4 million per week from microtransactions alone. That's not a typo. Per week. Multiply that out over a year and you're looking at a number that would fund several mid-sized game studios entirely.
Why GTA 5's longevity gives Rockstar room no other developer has
Most publishers face a brutal clock after launch. Revenue drops, the next project needs funding, and creative compromises start piling up. Rockstar doesn't have that problem. GTA 5 has been printing money since 2013, through three console generations, and it shows no meaningful signs of stopping.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has talked publicly about wanting Rockstar to "deliver perfection" with GTA 6, and about providing the studio with essentially unlimited financial, creative, and human resources to do so. That's not just corporate talk when you have a back catalog title still charting top five on current-gen hardware more than a decade after release.
Take-Two's quarterly reports consistently show around 5 million additional GTA 5 units sold per quarter across all platforms, meaning the PS5 estimate of 1.8 million for 2026 represents just one slice of a much larger ongoing sales picture.
The key here is that GTA 5's revenue stream isn't just covering Rockstar's operational costs. It's actively funding one of the most expensive game productions in history. Estimates based on publicly available financial documents suggest Rockstar North has spent north of $2 billion developing GTA 6. That kind of budget doesn't come from a publisher writing blank checks out of optimism.
The GTA Online factor that often gets overlooked
Unit sales are the visible part of this story. GTA Online is the part that rarely gets discussed with the specificity it deserves.
Leaked data pointing to roughly $8.4 million per week in microtransaction revenue means the game is generating more ongoing income than many studios earn from a full retail launch. Players buying Shark Cards in 2026 are, in a very real sense, co-funding GTA 6's development. The irony of that is not lost on anyone who has spent time grinding Los Santos missions to avoid spending real money.
Where this leaves GTA 6 before launch
GTA 6 is now just months away from release, and the financial picture heading into launch is unlike anything the industry has seen for a single title. The game reportedly cost over $2 billion to make, Rockstar has had more development time than virtually any other studio has ever been afforded, and the hype has been building for years.
One publishing industry figure has estimated GTA 6 could sell 45 million copies on PS5 in its first week. That's an aggressive projection, but when you consider that GTA 5 is still charting 13 years later, the floor for GTA 6's performance looks very high.
What most players miss is that GTA 5's continued commercial dominance doesn't just explain how Rockstar funded GTA 6. It also explains why the studio could afford to delay it, refine it, and hold it back until they were satisfied. Very few developers in history have had that luxury. Rockstar has had it for over a decade.
For players who want to revisit Los Santos before GTA 6 arrives, the Grand Theft Auto V strategy guides are worth checking out. And if you're looking for broader context on what's coming to gaming this year, the full gaming guides hub has you covered.
