In 2013, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The game was a huge success both critically and financially, receiving near perfect scores from almost all gaming websites. As of February 2017, GTA V has sold over 75 million copies. To put that in perspective, the 3DS has sold fewer than 70 million units, and the PS4 is nearing 60 million units sold, and I won’t even mention how few units the Xbox One has sold (10 Million… maybe?). To put that mildly, that’s incredible. Few games achieve the success that Rockstar has had with GTA V. Few consoles enjoy that kind of success. So what factors made GTA 5 so popular?
To begin with, lets examine one of their previous releases- Red Dead Redemption. This open world western developed by Rockstar San Diego and released in 2010 received critical success. Set in 1911, Red Dead Redemption has you play as John Marston, a badass gunslinger. Working with the FBI, Marston hunts down the members of his old gang. It’s a simple, but classic story of redemption, and few would argue that this game is merely GTA in the Wild West. Rather, you have the American frontier, or what’s left of it at your fingertips to explore. The possibilities and adventures you can have are almost endless. The game doesn’t hold your hand and guide you from check point to checkpoint. Do you want to lasso and ride horses for an hour? Sure. How about play dice? Story missions? I would get lost for hours just exploring the vast wilderness in this game. The open-ended nature of this game, and the richness of your experience exploring this world, makes this game the perfect primer for GTA 5.
Even prior to RDR, Rockstar already had a great reputation due to the success of GTA 3, Bully, LA Noire (I personally loved this game, but the critical reception was unexceptional) and GTA 4. In different ways, these games all empower the player to create their own stories. Player agency is an essential component of a successful open world game, and Rockstar is in a class of its own.
So with expectations so high, Rockstar Studios had everything set for GTA V to be a huge success… and then they made the perfect choice. They WAITED before releasing GTA V until it was ready to be released. Rockstar didn’t rush the release of GTA V; they didn’t try to meet a deadline to capitalize on the success of Red Dead Redemption. Instead, Rockstar spoon-fed us screenshots and teasers of GTA V to peak our interest, all the while waiting until their game was READY to be released. Compare this approach to Ubisoft who releases re-skinned versions of Assassin’s Creed games year after year. Arguably, Ubisoft reached its Peak in 2009 with the release of AC2. This game received such high praise because it significantly improved on almost all aspects of the original. However over the next 6 years, Ubisoft squandered its good reputation by oversaturating the market with yearly sequels. Ubisoft tried to capitalize on the success of AC2, but unlike GTA V, poor planning and consumer fatigue led to the slow downfall of a once beloved franchise.
Back to GTA V. After it’s release in 2013, the only thing that would spell success for this installment was the quality of the game itself… and it certainly delivered. It’s mind boggling how far GTA V pushed the processing capabilities of the XBOX 360, and to a slightly lesser extent, the PS3 as well. While the game clearly performs better on current generation consoles, PS3/XBOX were still able to hold their own. The game looks stunning, the world is huge, and the shear amount of gameplay is limitless. In 2013, everything came together perfectly for Rockstar, and the discipline that Rockstar showed in the years prior to GTA V’s release helped pave the way for its hugely successful launch. But those are just my thoughts.
What do you think? Did you play GTA V?