Grand Theft Auto made $274 million in Q1 on massive GTA Online spike

NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto-maker Take-Two Interactive jumpstarts its Q1 FY2022 period with strong earnings from some of its biggest franchises.

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Although Take-Two's Q1'22 net revenues slid 2.1% to $813 million, the Grand Theft Auto franchise just made its second-highest quarterly earnings in history.

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According to Take-Two filings, Grand Theft Auto earned about $274 million in the current Q1, beating out the previous high watermark set last year when GTA V was free on the Epic Games Store. These results are second only to the $1.4 billion revenues earned during GTA V's launch in Q3'14.

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Total GTA earnings made up 33.7% of Q1 net revenues, and company executives say the earnings spike was due to the outperformance of GTA Online as well as GTA V. Rockstar's open-world hit also managed to sell 5 million copies in the quarter, pushing total GTA V game sales to 150 million shipments worldwide.

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"Turning to our first quarter results, our better-than-expected performance was primarily driven by Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, and Borderlands 3," said Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein.

"Rockstar Games continued to keep its massive player base engaged with new content updates for Grand Theft Auto Online, including eight new stunt races, seven new arenas for Deadline mode and regular in-game bonuses and incentives."

"This helped drive the title to its second-highest Q1 on record for player audience and its third consecutive quarter of player growth. In comparison to the first quarter of fiscal 2020, Grand Theft Auto Online achieved a 72% increase in its audience size, a 77% increase in new players, and significant growth in recurrent consumer spending."

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