Someone needs to unplug reality for 30 seconds before plugging it back in, because we have obviously hit a glitch. Grand Theft Auto V, which debuted in 2013, was the No. 2 best-selling game in August in the United States, according to industry-tracking data firm The NPD Group. Only Madden NFL 18 performed better, and several newer releases sold worse than Rockstar Games’ open-world crime adventure. Keep in mind that NPD only tracks digital data from publishers who share their data, so it doesn’t have Steam sales for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
GTA V has ended up in the top-10 best-selling games of the year in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and it looks like it is easily on its way to doing the same thing in 2017. While GTA V is available on multiple platforms, it’s still shocking that the new Uncharted: The Lost Legacy could debut on PS4 last month and not beat it on the sales chart. Of course, that makes more sense when you note that Uncharted’s place on the … chart doesn’t include copies bundled with the Uncharted 4 Digital Deluxe Edition or Uncharted 4 Explorer’s Pack.
But even GTA V at No. 3 is still insane. So why does this keeps happening? Well, GTA Online is still attractive to new players, but the bigger reasons is that a lot of people buy it alongside their new Xbox One or PS4 purchases.
If you’re wondering if GTA V has set some kind of NPD record, the answer is yes. It is smashing them.
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“Grand Theft Auto V has now been on the market 49 months and has achieved 41 Top 10 chart appearances, 16 more times than any other single title in reported history,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “In addition, Grand Theft Auto V is the all-time best-selling game by both revenue and units in tracked sales across PC, console, and portable with digital and packaged combined.”
