Grand Theft Auto 5 and its revenue of nearly 2 billion dollars should be a lesson to the rest of the gaming industry. GTA V and its 32 million copies sold should be a revealing message to all the competitors and companies involved with the gaming industry. Nintendo should take notes. Microsoft should take notes. Activision should take notes. Everyone should take notes because the future of gaming is not the eighth generation, but actually what occurred within the contents of the disk in the instant masterpiece.
For starters, Grand Theft Auto 5 is a massive, massive, massive game. Video games should strive to be as big, diverse, and intimidating as GTA V. There is so much space to roam between missions and locations that it even drew some complaints amongst critics on the internet. Rockstar knew that in order to build upon the success of GTA IV (Which by the way despite the length and size was a few layers below Vice City and San Andreas) they needed to think bigger, they needed to raise the stakes; they needed to build upon what has worked.
Five years was spent on this game. Five slow, grueling years had occurred since conception leading up to the anticipated release. $115 million was spent on the game, with an absurd $150 million extra spent on marketing.
Rockstar’s blockbuster sequel-like strategy needs to be imitated much more often.
Part of the reason why GTA V has sold phenomenally is because of its bigger, superior sequel complex. The video game industry is run on brands; brand names can carry games into overwhelming numbers before a single negative review hits the airwaves. But these brands also need to learn to evolve into bigger and better things. You cannot too quickly release a new game in the franchise and have it look like the game before---unless you have an excellent continuing storyline or have a killer multi-player to back it up.
The sequel rehash image is what killed gaming franchises like Guitar Hero, Need for Speed, Burnout, Tony Hawk ProSkater, Metroid, Star Fox, Street Fighter, Prince of Persia (twice), Double Dragon, Tekken, Mortal Kombat (fighting games immensely suffer from this because it’s hard to actually improve a fighting game franchise outside of increasing characters), Madden, NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, and is beginning to cripple franchises like Donkey Kong, Zelda, Kirby, Gran Turismo, and to an extent even 2-D Mario games (Mario games don’t move hardware sales like they used to).
GTA V is currently the ultimate proof that gamers are indeed willing to wait years upon years for a video game as long as the product is good. The sequel factor does not wear off like it does in the movies when an upcoming installment takes too long to release. It had been 21 years since Kid Icarus games, yet the sequel still managed to sell over a million copies on a handheld that was slumping at the time. Although the gaming industry is a tough place and time is sometimes of the essence, every once in a while you need to take your time with a heavy-hitter title so it doesn’t become a disappointment and cripple the brand name.
The formula is very simple, even though there are few companies nowadays following the recipe: for the sequels to a good/popular game you need to increase the stakes, increase the budget, increase the exposure, increase the scope, and never rush it. GTA V was released in the backend of the seventh generation with brand new hardware releasing right around the corner and still managed to break a billion dollars faster than any form of entertainment in history. It is a game that pretty much doubled in size, and tripled the amount of characters, therefore increasing the variety, and the overall length of the game. You knew from the getgo you were getting your money’s worth.
Gran Turismo 6 on the other hand also came out at the backend of the seventh generation a mere three years after GT5 and suffered from a few setbacks (graphics issues, crashes still look iffy, a few restrictions), and has been outsold by its previous installment by 8 million copies and even losing out to the prologue of GT5. Hell, even the PSP Gran Turismo sold better.
Gamers can see success from a mile away, and gamers can see disappointment from a mile away. GTA V looked amazing, looked like the new step forward in the beloved franchise, and was rewarded with at least 2.5 billion in the bank by the time this year is over. Now look at Skyward Sword, selling only 3.7 million copies for a system that has an install base of 100 million and with the Zelda brand that has seen its previous game sell nearly 7 million.
GTA V’s success can be duplicated by everyone involved in gaming. All it takes is the same amount of effort, dedication, and care. So everyone, take notes. It will benefit you, the creator, and it will benefit us, the consumer.
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