Red Dead Redemption 2 Hits 89 Million Sales as GTA 5 Nears 235 Million Ahead of GTA 6 Launch
While the entire gaming industry counts down the final days to November 19, 2026, and the worldwide release of Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two Interactive's financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2027 (Q2 FY2027, ended September 30, 2026) serves as a stark reminder of how thoroughly Rockstar Games dominates global sales charts. Eight years after its original October 2018 debut, Red Dead Redemption 2 has officially surpassed 89 million units sold worldwide, while Grand Theft Auto V is now closing in on 235 million copies.
Nearly 2 Million Copies Sold in Three Months: Arthur Morgan's Unmatched Staying Power
The updated figures shared with Take-Two Interactive shareholders highlight extraordinary commercial legs for a narrative-driven open-world title. At the close of the previous quarter (ended June 30, 2026), Red Dead Redemption 2 stood at just over 87 million units sold-in. Between July and September 2026 alone, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang's western epic moved nearly 2 million additional copies, placing it on the doorstep of the 90 million milestone.
At 89 million units, Red Dead Redemption 2 firmly holds its position as the fourth best-selling video game in history, trailing only Minecraft (over 300 million), Grand Theft Auto V (nearly 235 million), and Electronic Arts' mobile iterations of Tetris. Excluding mobile pack-ins, Rockstar Games single-handedly owns the second and third best-selling console and PC releases of all time, and is steadily marching toward becoming the only studio in history with two separate titles above the nine-figure 100 million mark.
Zooming out to the broader franchise, combining the sequel with the original game and its recent ports across PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC pushes the Red Dead Redemption series past 118 million units sold worldwide (up from nearly 116 million in Q1 FY2027). Remarkably, this quarterly surge continues even though the game still runs via backward compatibility at 30 frames per second on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, while players continue to wait for an official 60 FPS patch or a dedicated PS5 remaster of Red Dead Redemption 2.
GTA 5 Nears 235 Million as the Franchise Approaches Half a Billion Units Before November 19
Equally staggering is the continued momentum of Grand Theft Auto V. Thirteen years after launching on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013, the Los Santos juggernaut shows zero signs of slowing down days before handing the baton to Vice City. The game has reached nearly 235 million copies sold as of September 30, 2026, up from over 230 million three months earlier, translating to roughly 4 to 5 million additional units moved in a single summer quarter.
Fueled by that sustained demand, the overall Grand Theft Auto franchise has now reached nearly 480 million units sold-in worldwide (adding roughly 5 million copies over the quarter). With Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders already shattering internal projections and prompting CEO Strauss Zelnick to outline what comes after GTA 6 and a shorter wait for GTA 7, the series is guaranteed to blow past the historic 500 million units threshold during launch week on November 19, 2026.
Alongside Rockstar's flagship blockbusters, Take-Two Interactive also updated lifetime sales milestones across its major publishing labels at the close of Q2 FY2027 (which recorded $1.60 billion in Net Bookings):
- Grand Theft Auto franchise: Nearly 480 million units (including nearly 235 million for GTA 5).
- NBA 2K franchise: Over 175 million units sold-in worldwide.
- Red Dead Redemption franchise: Over 118 million units (including over 89 million for Red Dead Redemption 2).
- Borderlands franchise: Over 100 million units total (including over 31 million for Borderlands 2 alone).
- Sid Meier's Civilization franchise: Over 80 million units sold.
My Take
Selling nearly two million copies of Red Dead Redemption 2 in a three-month window eight years after release, long after Rockstar wound down major content updates for Red Dead Online and without ever unlocking 60 FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, is an absolute industry anomaly. Most major publishers would pop champagne if a brand-new AAA release moved two million copies during its launch quarter. Rockstar pulls those numbers on autopilot with a 2018 western discounted during seasonal Steam and console storefront sales.
That exact sales velocity also explains why Rockstar has been in no rush to hand out a free current-gen patch. When a back-catalog game is still moving two million units a quarter as-is, the financial incentive to give away a free upgrade is zero. Take-Two has every reason to hold back a native PS5 edition for a quieter fiscal window after the November 19 tidal wave. As for GTA 5 adding another four to five million copies right before Leonida arrives, it proves the hype around GTA 6 is acting like a giant magnet pulling new players across Rockstar's entire catalog.
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SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles "Grimtag" is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
