Epic freebie help GTA V earn $984 million throughout 2020-2021

The Epic Games Store freebie helped push Grand Theft Auto V's revenues to their second-highest point since launch in 2013.

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GTA V was free on the Epic Games Store in May 2020, which helped push total-year franchise revenues to their second highest point of all time.

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Take-Two's Epic Games Store freebie paid off big time. Yesterday I put together a graph that charted total Grand Theft Auto franchise revenues from GTA V's launch to present on both a yearly and quarterly basis. There's a huge revenue spike in Q1'21 corresponding with GTA V's free release on the Epic Games Store during May 2020.

Epic freebie help GTA V earn $984 million throughout 2020-2021 34

This isn't a coincidence. The free launch helped GTA hit $262 million in the quarter, which is the second highest quarterly earnings since the incredible $1.49 billion earned at launch in Q3'14.

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FY21 was also the second-highest yearly earnings with $984 million as compared to the staggering $1.6 billion earned in FY14.

The data shows two things: One, that publishers can win big if they bet on limited freebies on digital distribution platforms with millions of users, and two, giving away a free copy of an 8-year old game is a great idea when there's a monetized online mode attached. Oddly enough, full game sales also spiked, with FY21 achieving 15 million unit sales. This pushed total Grand Theft Auto V sales figures to 145 million worldwide.

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Derek joined the TweakTown team in 2015 and has since reviewed and played 1000s of hours of new games. Derek is absorbed with the intersection of technology and gaming, and is always looking forward to new advancements. With over six years in games journalism under his belt, Derek aims to further engage the gaming sector while taking a peek under the tech that powers it. He hopes to one day explore the stars in No Man's Sky with the magic of VR.

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