Here we are, almost nine years on from the initial launch of GTA 5, and it has just arrived on its third generation of consoles. The reveal that GTA 5 would be getting an Enhanced & Expanded version wasn't exactly welcomed, especially since its first trailer made it look like nothing much had been improved upon. Most who have taken the new game for a spin appear to be pleasantly surprised, and comparison shots show the new version of the game does look a lot better.
GTA 5's total sales for the past nine years had topped 160 million even before its new-gen relaunch. Suffice to say, early figures suggest that number will have been improved upon significantly when Take-Two releases its next quarterly figures. GamesIndustry.biz reports that not only has GTA 5 comfortably topped this week's digital downloads chart, but it has enjoyed the second-biggest digital launch of 2022 behind Elden Ring.
GTA 5 actually dethroned Elden Ring to take the top spot, and it technically occupies number three in the chart too. Right after Elden Ring in the latest rankings is GTA Online. That's because the games are technically two different entities on new consoles as GTA Online can be bought separately. Even more impressive is that since GTA Online is currently free on PlayStation, it only needed the sales from Xbox to make it all the way up into third place.
GTA Online being free on PlayStation for the first three months is also why there's a price difference between the E&E versions of GTA 5 on the two platforms. You can currently get GTA 5 on PS5 for £8.75, but it costs £17.49 on Xbox. That's because, as outlined above, the Xbox version includes both GTA 5 and GTA Online, whereas the PS5 version is just GTA 5 and GTA Online can be downloaded separately for free, for now.
It's not exactly all bad news for Elden Ring despite it slipping a place. The latest sales figures confirm it has enjoyed the third-biggest launch of the last 12 months, only beaten by FIFA 22 and Call Of Duty: Vanguard. FromSoftware also revealed the Souls game sold more than 12 million copies in less than three weeks. Now, time to take bets on how close GTA 5 will be to 200 million sold by the end of this current quarter.