GTA V (2013): Three Console Generations, One Game

GTA V from its Sep 2013 launch to the PS5 and PC Enhanced versions: release gaps, scores and sell-in by version, all from Take-Two and Metacritic.

GTA V is the rare game that outlived its own hardware twice. It launched on PS3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013, came back on PS4, Xbox One and PC, then again on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and got a free PC upgrade in 2025. Between the May 2025 and May 2026 annual reports it still added about 15 million units. This page follows the game version by version, using Take-Two's filings for dates and sales and Metacritic for scores, to answer one question: why did one game carry a whole decade of the series?

At a glance

Item	Detail	Source
Released	Sep 17 2013 (PS3, Xbox 360)	Take-Two 10-K, May 14 2014
Later versions	PS4 and Xbox One Nov 18 2014; PC Apr 14 2015; PS5 and Xbox Series X\|S Mar 15 2022; PC Enhanced listed Mar 4 2025	Take-Two 10-Ks; Metacritic
Developer	Rockstar North	Guinness; Metacritic
Publisher	Rockstar Games (Take-Two)	Take-Two 10-K
Setting	Los Santos and Blaine County, in San Andreas	Take-Two 8-K, May 18 2015; Destructoid
Protagonists	Michael, Franklin and Trevor	Metacritic (publisher summary)
Online	GTA Online, launched Oct 1 2013, free with every copy	Take-Two 10-K; 8-K Oct 29 2013
Sell-in	over 230 million units	Take-Two 10-Q, Aug 7 2026
Best Metascore	97 (PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One)	Metacritic

What is counted, and how

Dates come from the product-release tables in Take-Two's annual 10-K filings, which list each title, platform and release date. Sales are Take-Two "sell-in" figures: units shipped to retail plus digital units, not copies bought by players. Scores are Metacritic Metascores as displayed on Oct 11 2026, with the number of critic reviews behind each.

Gaps between versions are counted in calendar time from Sep 17 2013:

PS4 and Xbox One: Sep 17 2013 to Nov 17 2014 is 1 year 2 months, plus 1 day = 1 year, 2 months, 1 day.
PC: Sep 17 2013 to Mar 17 2015 is 1 year 6 months; Mar 17 to Apr 14 is 28 days = 1 year, 6 months, 28 days (about 19 months).
PS5 and Xbox Series X|S: Sep 17 2013 to Feb 17 2022 is 8 years 5 months; Feb 17 to Mar 15 2022 is 26 days = 8 years, 5 months, 26 days.
PC Enhanced: Sep 17 2013 to Feb 17 2025 is 11 years 5 months; Feb 17 to Mar 4 2025 is 15 days = 11 years, 5 months, 15 days.

Left out on purpose: story spoilers past the opening, any sales figure from a tracking site, and the GTA Online update history (that has its own page, /library/gta-online).

The setup

Rockstar's own summary, as carried on Metacritic, sets up a city in decline and three men with nowhere better to go. Franklin wants out of street crime and into real money. Michael is a career criminal whose comfortable retirement has turned sour. Trevor is the volatile one, always after the next job. The three end up pooling their problems into a run of heists. The characters have their own page at /library/michael-franklin-trevor, and the city at /library/los-santos.

That is as far as this page goes into the plot.

Every version, side by side

This is the table no other page has: each release of GTA V, how long after the original it arrived, how critics scored that version, and the first sell-in figure Take-Two reported after it launched.

Version	Release	Gap after Sep 17 2013	Metascore (critic reviews)	First sell-in figure after launch
PS3	Sep 17 2013	none	97 (50)	nearly 29 million (8-K, Oct 29 2013)
Xbox 360	Sep 17 2013	none	97 (58)	same figure, both consoles
PS4	Nov 18 2014	1 yr, 2 mo, 1 day	97 (66)	more than 45 million on console, nearly 10 million of them PS4 and Xbox One (8-K, Feb 3 2015)
Xbox One	Nov 18 2014	1 yr, 2 mo, 1 day	97 (14)	same figure
PC	Apr 14 2015	1 yr, 6 mo, 28 days	96 (57)	nearly 52 million (8-K, May 18 2015)
PS5	Mar 15 2022	8 yr, 5 mo, 26 days	81 (25)	over 160 million (10-K, May 17 2022)
Xbox Series X\|S	Mar 15 2022	8 yr, 5 mo, 26 days	79 (11)	same figure
PC Enhanced	Mar 4 2025 (Metacritic listing)	11 yr, 5 mo, 15 days	no score (2 reviews)	over 210 million (10-K, May 20 2025)

Two readings stand out.

The scores did not fade, the question changed. The PS4, Xbox One and PC versions held at 96 to 97. The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions fell to 81 and 79. Those later reviews were judging an upgrade of a 2013 game at full price on new hardware, not the game itself. The /library/gta-review-scores page compares this drop with every other GTA release.

Each version moved the sales line. From the Feb 3 2015 figures, more than 45 million console units minus nearly 10 million on PS4 and Xbox One leaves roughly 35 million on PS3 and Xbox 360 at that point (both numbers approximate). The PC launch then added about 52 - 45 = 7 million between the Feb 3 and May 18 2015 releases, though that difference also includes continuing console sales. The full ladder of figures is at /library/gta-sales-history.

What it changed

Online came in the box. Take-Two's Oct 29 2013 release described GTA Online as "free with every copy" of GTA V. It launched two weeks after the game, on Oct 1 2013. Take-Two's 2022 earnings releases listed "Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V" as a single entry among its largest contributors to net bookings, and its Aug 7 2026 release still names the Grand Theft Auto series among them. The single-player game and the online world became one product.

The launch reset the record books. Guinness confirmed seven records on Oct 8 2013, including best-selling video game in 24 hours (11.21 million units), highest revenue for an entertainment product in 24 hours ($815.7 million) and fastest entertainment property to reach $1 billion (three days, on Sep 20 2013). Take-Two said the nearly 29 million units sold in by late October already beat GTA IV's lifetime console sell-in. See /library/gta-iv.

One game, three generations. The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S version, per Take-Two's Feb 7 2022 release, added graphics modes up to 4K, up to 60 frames per second, HDR, ray tracing, faster loading and 3D audio. Story Mode progress could transfer from PS4 and Xbox One. In 2025 Rockstar's Newswire headline called the new PC version a free upgrade; Metacritic lists it as GTA V Enhanced, released Mar 4 2025.

Reception

At launch, Take-Two said GTA V had received over 160 perfect scores worldwide. Metacritic lists 50 PS3 reviews, all positive, and 58 Xbox 360 reviews, 57 of them positive, for a Metascore of 97 on each. Among the perfect scores dated Sep 16 2013 are IGN and Edge. Destructoid's review, by James Stephanie Sterling and dated Sep 16 2013, was cooler at 9 out of 10. It praised the three leads and the heists but found the combat clunky and the visuals dated.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions kept the 97. In February 2015 Take-Two called GTA V the highest-rated game to date on those consoles. The PC version scored 96. The PS5 version scores 81 from 25 reviews; the ones Metacritic shows first are dated between Mar 16 and May 7 2022.

Legacy

Take-Two's 2020 proxy cites the NPD Group: GTA V was "the best-selling game of the past decade" in the US, by both units and dollar sales. The 2024 proxy says that in fiscal 2024, more than a decade after release, GTA V's audience size grew 35% and GTA Online's 23%. The Aug 7 2026 10-Q puts GTA V at over 230 million units sold in.

Its successor is set. Rockstar has announced Grand Theft Auto VI for Nov 19 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, as "a single player experience". GTA V's online world is still being updated: Take-Two's Aug 7 2026 release lists the Kortz Center Heist update for GTA Online on Jul 14 2026. Read /library/gta-vi for what is confirmed about the new game.

Trivia

Take-Two's Feb 3 2015 release still planned the PC version for Mar 24 2015. It shipped Apr 14 2015, per the fiscal 2015 10-K.
Guinness's article headline and opening say six records; its list has seven, the seventh being most viewed trailer for an action-adventure videogame.
Guinness called GTA V the fifteenth title in the series and the first main entry since GTA IV in 2008.
Metacritic lists GTA V Enhanced as a separate game page, not as a platform of GTA V.