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Grand Theft Auto Online audience grew 72% in Q1

Grand Theft Auto Online audience grew 72% in Q1

The number of people playing Grand Theft Auto Online apparently has risen by 72 per cent year-on-year.

That's according to Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, who told investors – as transcribed by Seeking Alpha – that the audience for that game had shot up in the three months ending June 2021. Furthermore, the exec said that there was a 77 per cent increase in new players and a "significant growth in recurrent consumer spending."

The firm also revealed that Grand Theft Auto V has now shipped more than 150 million units since its launch in September 2013.

Zelnick also said that Red Dead Redemption 2 had hit 38 million units in shipments between November 2018 and June 2021, something that Zelnick said "exceeded our expectations."

Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 – as well as their online components – were apparently the fuel for Take-Two's "better than expected" results for the quarter. GAAP net income rose by 72 per cent to hit $152.3 million, though GAAP net revenue dipped two per cent to $813.3 million.

“We began fiscal 2022 with positive momentum, which was reflected in our ability to deliver first quarter operating results which were above our expectations,” Zelnick said in the company's financial release.

“During the period, we continued to invest in our future, including growing our creative teams and expanding our mobile business and expertise further.

“For the year, we are reiterating our outlook, as there has been some movement in our release schedule, including two of our immersive core titles shifting to later in fiscal 2022 than contemplated by our prior guidance. As we deliver on our expansive multi-year pipeline, we believe that we will achieve sequential growth in fiscal 2023 and establish new record levels of operating results over the next few years.

“We remain highly optimistic about the growth potential for the interactive entertainment industry and our competitive positioning within the sector. We believe that our unique strategic advantages, together with our focus on enhancing our enterprise and capitalizing on our growth opportunities, will enable us to deliver long-term shareholder value.”


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.