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This Day In Gaming - September 17: Grand Theft Auto V
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Grand Theft Auto V
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Grand Theft Auto V
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BombjackOn September 17, 2013, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V onto the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the video game business was never quite the same again. It arrived at the tail end of a console generation, when many studios were already looking ahead to new hardware, and yet it became one of the defining releases of its era. More than a decade later it is still being played, still being sold, and still setting records, which makes it one of the most remarkable success stories the medium has ever produced.
A five-year road to Los Santos
Development of GTA V began around 2008, roughly when its predecessor Grand Theft Auto IV was hitting shelves. The project was led by Rockstar North, the Edinburgh studio behind the series, but it ultimately drew on more than a thousand people across Rockstar's worldwide network of studios. The scale was enormous. Analysts estimated the combined development and marketing budget exceeded 170 million pounds, roughly 265 million US dollars at the time, which was widely reported as making it the most expensive video game ever produced up to that point.
The world itself was the star. Rockstar sent teams to Southern California and Los Angeles on field research trips, then used aerial photography, Google Maps data, and census information to build the fictional state of San Andreas and its sprawling city of Los Santos, a loving and satirical reimagining of Los Angeles. The result was an open world of unusual density and detail, from sun-bleached beaches and Hollywood-style hills to freeways, deserts, and the ocean floor.
GTA V also broke with series tradition by giving players three protagonists to switch between at will. There was Michael De Santa, a retired bank robber chafing in witness protection; Franklin Clinton, an ambitious young hustler from the neighborhoods of South Los Santos; and Trevor Philips, a volatile career criminal who became one of gaming's most infamous characters. Weaving three perspectives into a single heist-driven story was a genuine structural gamble, and it paid off.
Critical acclaim and a record-shattering launch
Reviews were rapturous. The game holds a Metacritic score of 97, placing it among the highest rated titles ever released. IGN, Edge, and several other outlets awarded perfect marks, and Japan's Famitsu gave it a rare 40 out of 40. Critics singled out the ambition of the three-character design, the intricacy of the heist missions, and the sheer technical achievement of the open world. Not every reaction was pure praise. Some reviewers felt the story was weaker than earlier entries, and the game drew serious criticism over its depiction of women and over a torture sequence that prompted debate among journalists, politicians, and advocacy groups. That controversy became part of the conversation around what the medium was willing to depict.
Commercially, the launch was staggering. GTA V reportedly earned around 815 million US dollars on its first day, and within three days it had passed one billion dollars in sales, which was described as the fastest an entertainment product had ever reached that figure. It shattered several Guinness World Records in the process. In the United Kingdom it moved 2.25 million copies in five days.
A game that refused to end
Part of what has kept GTA V alive is Grand Theft Auto Online, the multiplayer component that launched on October 1, 2013, two weeks after the main game. Despite a rocky start plagued by server problems, it grew into a persistent online world supported by years of free updates, new modes, and elaborate heists. That steady stream of content turned a single-player title into an ongoing service that players returned to again and again.
The numbers that followed are hard to overstate. GTA V has shipped well over 230 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games in history, and it has generated close to 10 billion dollars in lifetime revenue. It was re-released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014, for PC in 2015, and again for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles in 2022, introducing the game to each new generation of players. Even years after launch it has remained among the most-played titles on modern platforms.
Legacy
GTA V is remembered as both a farewell and an opening statement. Polygon called it the closure of one console generation and the benchmark for the next, and that framing has largely held up. It set a commercial ceiling that few games have approached and demonstrated how a live online world could extend a title's life far beyond a traditional release. Its long shadow now stretches toward Grand Theft Auto VI, set to launch on November 19, 2026, a sequel carrying perhaps the highest expectations in the history of the medium. Whatever that game becomes, it owes a great deal to the afternoon of September 17, 2013, when Los Santos first opened its doors.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V
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