GTA V made half a billion dollars in 2019, was #3 best-earning game

Like its heisting protagonists, Grand Theft Auto V just won't stop grabbing up all the money.

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GTA V is a monster. It's the most popular entertainment property of all time with over 115 million copies sold. GTA Online managed to make over $1 billion in four years. And even in 2019, six years after release, it's still making more dough than Pillsbury.

Throughout 2019 alone, GTA V pulled in $595 million in digital revenues, analyst firm SuperData reports in its latest 2019 Year in Review sales brief. These numbers are driven strongly by GTA Online's microtransactions and cemented GTA V in third out of the top 10 best-earning games of 2019, just below Activision's new Modern Warfare reboot and EA's FIFA 19. The staying power of GTA V is just absolutely incredible.

Here's a little perspective: GTA V almost made more than Take-Two's entire microtransaction revenues for the first two quarters of the year combined (Take-Two pulled in $313.78 million in microtransactions in Q1'20 and $318.38 million in Q2'20).

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This fits in line with NPD Group's recent findings that show GTA V was in the top 20 best-selling U.S. games for 73 consecutive months.

Take-Two Interactive attributes GTA V's stellar 2019 performance to the Diamond Casino Resort update in GTA Online. The update attracted record users and sparked recurrent consumer spending in new and existing gamers.

"Recurrent consumer spending on GTA Online grew 23% YoY to a new record, driven by the July release of the Diamond Casino Resort update. This update was GTA Online's biggest content launch ever, delivering record daily, weekly, and monthly active users in July and again in August," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a Q2'20 earnings call.

GTA V and GTA Online show no signs of slowing down. Rockstar says it won't stop releasing new content for GTA Online any time soon, and the game's strong earnings have caused Take-Two to raise its financial outlook for the fiscal year.

These earnings will provide strong buffers to help fund development of new projects like Grand Theft Auto VI.