Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling game of the decade in the United States.

NPD: This is why Sony started the PS5 showcase with GTA V

If anyone had doubts about the value of Sony’s deal with Rockstar Games on the PlayStation 5, we have the answer in U.S. sales numbers for Grand Theft Auto V for the month of May. Grand Theft Auto V ranked No. 2 on the charts, just behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, according to the May report from market researcher NPD. This is amazing because GTA V first came out in 2013.

The game has had quite the run, thanks in part to the excellent GTA Online, which has helped Rockstar and parent Take-Two Interactive hang on to the audience all these years.

Sony announced on Thursday that Rockstar would upgrade GTA V for the PS5. GTA V for PlayStation 5 will be available for purchase in the same way it is on earlier platforms. What’s new and interesting here is that GTA Online will be available as a standalone game on the PlayStation 5, and it’ll be free for PS5 players for the first three months from launch. The PS5 is expected to debut in the 2020 holiday season.

Overall, GTA V has sold more than 130 million copies across all platforms. The improved GTA V will debut in 2021.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.