GTA by the Numbers: Sales, Records and Moments (1997-2026)

Updated November 6, 2026 · Sales from Take-Two’s SEC filings (latest: the 10-Q filed August 7, 2026) · Play times from HowLongToBeat, checked November 6, 2026

This is GTA in numbers: what each game added, how much the series has sold, the records it set, how long every game takes, and one standout moment from each mainline entry. Every figure has a source, listed at the end.

Every mainline GTA game at a glance

Want the handheld games, expansions and story order too? See GTA games in order, which covers all 12 games from 1997 to GTA 6.

How many copies has GTA sold?

Take-Two’s latest count puts the Grand Theft Auto series at more than 470 million copies sold-in, in its quarterly report filed August 7, 2026. Its earnings slides round that up to nearly 475 million. GTA V is over 230 million of the total, so one game makes up nearly half of everything the series has sold since 1997.

“Sold-in” means copies shipped to stores and digital storefronts, not copies bought by players. It’s the only official GTA sales number Take-Two reports.

Take-Two no longer breaks out sales for GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas or GTA IV, so the roughly 240 million copies that aren’t GTA V can’t be split by game. That share covers everything else in the series, from the 1997 original to spin-offs and remasters.

For scale, Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar’s next-biggest game, is at more than 85 million in the same report. Among single games, only Minecraft reports more: over 350 million, by Mojang’s 2025 count.

GTA V sales over the years

GTA V was past 105 million sold-in by March 31, 2019. It has added 15 to 20 million copies in every fiscal year since, with the biggest jumps, about 20 million each, in the years to March 2020, 2021 and 2023. Twelve years after launch, it still added about 15 million in the year to March 2026, then passed 230 million by June 30, 2026. It has come out on seven platforms: three console generations from PS3 and Xbox 360 to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, plus PC.

GTA V’s share of all GTA sales has climbed in every report. It was about 36% in 2019 and is close to 49% now.

Copies sold-in, from Take-Two’s annual 10-K reports (fiscal years end March 31) and its June 2026 10-Q. Take-Two gives “over” figures, so the share is our math on those floors and is approximate.

What records has GTA broken?

Most of GTA’s records come from launch days and trailers. These are the ones with an official or Guinness source.

Guinness listed seven GTA V records in October 2013, including the fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion. Take-Two’s own launch announcement gave revenue, not units: more than $800 million on day one and $1 billion in three days. So the 11.21 million day-one figure is Guinness’s, not one Take-Two confirmed.

The two trailer numbers measure different things. Trailer 1 holds the Guinness title for the most viewed videogame reveal on YouTube in 24 hours. Trailer 2’s 475 million is Rockstar’s own count across every platform.

How long does it take to beat every GTA game?

Playing the main story of all seven mainline games back to back takes about 145.5 hours, based on HowLongToBeat player averages checked November 6, 2026. Doing everything in all seven takes about 348.5 hours, or more than 14 days of nonstop play.

GTA V is the longest at 32 hours for the story and 89.5 hours for 100%. GTA 2 has the shortest story at 12.5 hours. The big jump came with San Andreas, which nearly doubled Vice City’s story length, from 16.5 to 30 hours.

HowLongToBeat averages from player submissions, checked November 6, 2026. Your time will vary with how much you explore.

GTA Online is its own category. HowLongToBeat players who log it report about 225 hours on average, more than the main stories of all seven games combined.

GTA VI has no player averages yet. The only official hint: Rockstar North’s Rob Nelson told The New York Times in August 2026 that his own playthrough took about 80 hours, including some optional goals. That’s one developer’s run, not an average, but it would be more than double GTA V’s 32-hour story.

What can you do in GTA V besides the story?

A lot, and the game keeps count. GTA V’s 100% checklist has five parts, and the 69 story missions are only one of them.

The hobbies are where the hours go: golf, tennis, darts, yoga with Michael, three triathlons, 12 Flight School lessons, six off-road races, five street races and four sea races. There are also parachute jumps, the shooting range, hunting with Trevor and towing jobs as Franklin.

There’s a stock market too, with two exchanges, LCN and BAWSAQ. Lester’s assassination missions move share prices, and the classic money trick is to buy the right stock before each hit.

Checklist counts per the GTABase and GamesRadar+ 100% guides.

The collectibles and challenges:

• 50 spaceship parts
• 50 letter scraps
• 30 nuclear waste barrels
• 30 submarine pieces
• 50 Under the Bridge flights
• 15 Knife Flights
• 50 stunt jumps

You don’t need all of them for 100%. The checklist asks for every spaceship part and letter scrap, but only 25 bridges, 8 Knife Flights and 25 stunt jumps.

The most memorable GTA moments, game by game

Our picks, one per mainline game, light on spoilers.

Grand Theft Auto (1997): it started as a cop game

Before it was GTA, DMA Design’s project in Dundee, Scotland was a cops-and-robbers driving game called Race’n’Chase, with you as the police. The team flipped it so you play the criminal, and the series began.

GTA 2 (1999): picking a side

Each district of Anywhere City has three gangs, and every job you take for one makes its rivals like you less. Upset everyone and the city gets very small.

GTA III (2001): the Callahan Bridge escape

The first 3D GTA opens with a betrayal mid-robbery, then a police convoy ambushed on Callahan Bridge. Claude walks free with fellow prisoner 8-Ball, and Liberty City opens up around him.

Vice City (2002): Demolition Man

You fly a tiny remote-control helicopter, carrying bombs one at a time to a building site against the clock. It’s short, fiddly and a regular on “hardest GTA missions” lists.

San Andreas (2004): Wrong Side of the Tracks

CJ chases a train on a dirt bike while Big Smoke rides on the back, trying to shoot the Vagos on board. Fail it and you hear the line that became a meme: “All we had to do was follow the damn train, CJ!”

GTA IV (2008): Roman wants to go bowling

Niko Bellic arrives in Liberty City on a cargo ship to find his cousin Roman’s American dream is mostly debt. Roman’s constant calls asking Niko to go bowling became one of the series’ best-known jokes.

GTA V (2013): the first heist

The Jewel Store Job is where GTA V’s design clicks. You scout the store, pick a loud or smart approach and hire a crew, and your crew’s skill changes how much of the take you keep.

GTA Online by the numbers

Take-Two doesn’t publish GTA Online player counts. It does still name GTA among its largest sources of net bookings in every recent earnings report, 13 years after GTA Online launched. These are the official milestones.

Take-Two called Cayo Perico GTA Online’s “biggest update to date” when it reported results in February 2021.

What’s next: GTA VI on November 19, 2026

GTA VI is out on Thursday, November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, a date Take-Two repeated in its August 2026 filing. It returns to Vice City, now in the state of Leonida, with two leads, Jason and Lucia.

It also ends the longest wait in the series. GTA VI lands 4,811 days after GTA V, nearly two and a half times the 1,967 days between GTA IV and GTA V.

Release time, pre-load, editions and price are in our GTA 6 release date and pre-load guide. Still deciding whether to keep playing GTA V? Our GTA 5 vs GTA 6 comparison covers what changes, and the GTA 6 storage guide shows how to clear room for the pre-load of up to 212 GB.

Read next: GTA 6 release date and time, pre-load and price · GTA 5 vs GTA 6: what changes · How much storage GTA 6 needs

Sources: Take-Two Interactive annual reports on Form 10-K for fiscal years 2019 to 2026 and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (SEC EDGAR); Take-Two earnings releases (February 8, 2021 and August 7, 2026) and the GTA V next-gen release (March 15, 2022); Take-Two’s GTA IV launch results (May 2008, via GameSpot); Guinness World Records (October 2013 and December 2023); The Hollywood Reporter (May 2025); VGChartz (August 7, 2026); Mojang via Guinness World Records and VGChartz (2025); NPD via GamesBeat; HowLongToBeat (checked November 6, 2026); GTABase, GamesRadar+ and ConsolePulse GTA V guides; Time Extension (the making of GTA).

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