GTL: Grand Theft Auto Crosses Into $6 Billion of Profits

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V has earned over $6 billion in profits, making it the most profitable entertainment product of all time. This episode of Game Talk Live dissects the abundant success of the game, as well as Rockstar's other properties. Host Mandie Roman is joined by a panel of guests including producer, creator, and show host Khail Anonymous, Chuck Meré of Zombie Go Boom, and Dave Klein of YouTube Channel DaveControl.

Game Talk Live starts by examining the ways in which players can engage with Grand Theft Auto. The modes, activities, events, and overall content of the game is considered, including offline and online components of the game. Between the living and breathing city and the wealth of ways players can play with it, do other games approach accessibility the way Grand Theft Auto does? Moreover, how has the content online and off evolved over time?

The panel also looks at modding in Grand Theft Auto. By use of mods, players, designers, tweakers, and innovators have built their own custom content for Grand Theft Auto, allowing them to take the game in a multitude of different directions. Guests discuss the impact that modding has had on Grand Theft Auto's success and modding in general helps to elevate games.

The focus then shifts to Rockstar's upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2. With this much-anticipated title on the way in late 2018, does it have a chance to be as successful as Grand Theft Auto V? Can it build the same hype and continue to provide replayability for players the same way that GTA has? Moreover, the panel discusses whether or not the online components of Red Dead Redemption 2 risk pulling too much of an audience away from Grand Theft Auto Online.

The panel also turns their attention to whether or not it's okay for Rockstar to keep building content on top of its existing games or whether entirely new games are necessary. Can Grand Theft Auto Online continue to evolve or do we really need a Grand Theft Auto 6 anymore?

The team also looks at the lengthy time frames of Rockstar's game development. The Rockstar brand doesn't ever truly hurry its games along. Does this willingness to put a release off hurt their game's hype or just make them more ironclad when they finally do release? Moreover, how much of Rockstar's game's success is built off the controversial edginess of their hype as opposed to the true quality of them. The panel discusses how a title like Grand Theft Auto becoming the most profitable entertainment speaks to the community of players as a whole.

This episode has wrapped up, but you can catch it in its entirety in the embedded video above. Be sure to check out the previous Game Talk Live as well where the panel discusses gaming conventions and whether or not the industry is becoming a little too crowded with events like PAX and E3.