GTA Online Has Earned Over $5 Billion

Two weeks after hackers breached Rockstar Games, they still haven’t revealed any information about GTA 6. However, they did manage to steal a number of intriguing documents, which have already led to consequences. Among them is detailed analytics on player spending across three categories.

On October 1, GTA Online will turn 13 years old. Yet its age hasn’t stopped the game from printing money for its developers and publishers. No matter which metric you look at, the numbers are staggering.

Player Numbers

• The active player base is just under 10 million per week — 9,937,747 (10 times more than Red Dead Online).
• On average, more than 1 in 20 players are newcomers — 464,316 (4 times more).
• Around 400,000 players make in-game purchases or subscribe — 393,402 (25 times more), which is just 4% of active players.
• The minimum weekly player count is 7 million — 6,923,389 (10 times more).
• The maximum weekly player count reaches 15.4 million — 15,437,859 (12 times more).

Revenue

• Annual revenue is around $500 million (19 times more).
• That’s about $10 million per week — $9,592,109.
• And $1.3 million per day — $1,319,322.
• Minimum weekly revenue is $5 million — $4,799,298 (15 times more).
• Maximum weekly revenue is nearly $28 million —$27,889,761 (32 times more).
• The highest daily revenue ever recorded was $8.5 million — $8,485,033 — on December 25, 2020, following the release of The Cayo Perico Heist update.

Revenue by Year

1. 2014 — $21,501,118;
2. 2015 — $184,766,514;
3. 2016 — $313,821,489 (earlier analyst estimates were clearly inaccurate)
4. 2017 — $504,148,348;
5. 2018 — $414,300,757;
6. 2019 — $470,804,610;
7. 2020 (pandemic peak) — $743,992,975;
8. 2021 — $653,934, 228;
9. 2022 — $450,740,544;
10. 2023 — $411,052,946;
11. 2024 — $403,978,895;
12. 2025 — $400,456,128;
13. 2026 (first three months) – $109,692,497.

Over its lifetime, the game has generated more than $5 billion — $5,063,840,049. That’s roughly $20–35 million per month.

Revenue Streams

• About 74% of all revenue comes from Shark Cards:
  • $7 million per week — $7,328,654;
  • $1 million per day — $974,589;
• Around 26% comes from the GTA+ subscription:
  • $2 million per week — $2,262,725;
  • $345k per day — $344,501.

Revenue by Country

Players from the United States dominate by a huge margin, spending twice as much as all other top 10 countries combined.

1. USA — $153,075,600;
2. United Kingdom — $25,174,080;
3. Germany — $15,733,390;
4. Australia — $8,950,261;
5. France — $8,738,318;
6. Canada — $8,560,592;
7. Netherlands — $4,522,773;
8. Switzerland — $3,717,664;
9. Italy — $3,478,350;
10. Spain — $2,762,780.

Revenue by Platform

The following metrics — the average number of active players and the weekly revenue they generate across different platforms — provide a clear answer to why PC is not a priority. PlayStation, meanwhile, completely dominates its competitors.

• PS5 — 3.5 million players (3 474 021) — 4.5 million dollars ($4 486 356) — 53%;
• PS4 — 1.9 million players (1 889 729) — 1 million dollars ($973 308) — 11%;
• Xbox Series X — 1.1 million players (1 129 023) — 1.9 million dollars ($1 867 947) — 22%;
• Xbox One — 1 million players (1 026 695) — 918k dollars ($918 373) — 11%;
• PC — 900k players (894 621) — 264k dollars ($264 273) — 3%.

In-Game Statistics

• The biggest source of player income comes from failed missions — generating twice as much money as successful completions (second place).
• The total amount of money earned in-game is astronomical. The combined earnings of all players reach nearly 3 sextillion — a number with 21 zeros.