Rockstar is a major developer and publisher primarily known for its critical and commercially successful open-world games. The studio has a shorter history than some other big players like Nintendo or Blizzard, it was founded in 1999 by Sam and Dan Houser, following the acquisition by Take-Two Interactive, and currently consists of nine subsidiaries, with the last being Rockstar Dundee formed in October 2020.
During its history, the studio established itself as the leading games developer with their Grand Theft Auto franchise, while also having critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne franchises in its portfolio. Rockstars games sold more than 250 million copies worldwide, and below are the ten highest selling.
10 Max Payne (4 Million Copies)
First on the list is the original Max Payne from 2001, which at the time wasn’t even developed or published by Rockstar. The game and, the whole franchise was later acquired by the studio resulting in two sequels as well as many ports. Sales of the game were pretty low upon release, and Max Payne sold only 82,000 copies in the first month of its release.
Thanks to more than positive reviews the sales in subsequent years increased and later totaled to 4 million. Aside from sales, the game’s neo-noir style and use of graphic novel panels have earned praise and the game is today considered as one of the best ever made.
9 Max Payne 3 (4.5 Million Copies)
The sequel to Max Payne was a commercial failure leading Rockstar to put a hold on the sequel. However, considering how the two first installments earned critical praise, the third game in the series was eventually developed and published in 2012.
Max Payne 3 had a strong start and managed to sell 3 million copies in the first week of its release, but later the sales stalled and two years after the game’s release it sold 4.5 million copies, which is the last known information about its commercial performance. The game in the end sold more than the first two games, but with a much higher budget.
8 L.A. Noire (5 Million Copies)
L.A. Noire had a combined marketing and development budget of 50 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive games ever made. Keeping that in mind it was expected for the game to be a commercial success.
It had strong lunch in countries like the United States, where it was the bestselling game in May 2011, and in the United Kingdom where it was the fastest-selling new intellectual property while being number one on the sales chart for three weeks. From the last available data from the end of 2012, the game managed to sell around 5 million copies.
7 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (8 Million Copies)
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories serves as the ninth installment in the GTA series and was released for PlayStation 2 and PSP, and later received ports for iOS and Android. It follows a mobster Toni Cipriani in an attempt to rise through the ranks of a crime organization.
The game is also notable to be the first in the series for being published on handheld devices. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories managed to sell one million copies in the first year of its release, with the PSP version performing particularly well. The game sold 8 million copies according to the last data, which makes it the seventh best-selling Rockstar game.
6 Grand Theft Auto III (14.5 Million Copies)
Grand Theft Auto III was the highest-selling game of 2001 in the United States with 2 million copies, while in the next year it was outsold only to its sequel. While for example in Japan the sales were much smaller, with the game selling 120 000 copies in its first week, with numbers reaching 350 000 only in 2008. Looking globally the game sold well and the sales later totaled 14.5 million.
Aside from commercial performance, the game was critically acclaimed with many regarding it as one of the best games ever made, but it also generated controversy particularly because of the depiction of violence and themes in the game.
5 Red Dead Redemption (15 Million Copies)
According to Rockstar the game needed to sell 4 million copies to recoup its development cost. Red Dead Redemption surpassed that number in the first three weeks of its release with 5 million copies sold, while in the first-year sales totaled 8.5 million copies. Later, worldwide sales reached 15 million making the game a big commercial success.
The was also critically acclaimed winning many “Game of the year” awards from numerous publications, which is not strange considering its development and marketing budget of almost 100 million dollars.
4 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (17.5 Million Copies)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City managed to sell 500 000 copies in the first 24 hours of its release, a number which rose to 1.4 million in the next 48 hours, which made it the fastest-selling game in history at that time. It was also the bestselling game of 2002. The game sales continued to raise and later totaled 17.5 million copies, making it a massive commercial success.
Like its predecessor, the game was met with controversies, this time for the presentation of racial groups, as well as violence which resulted in lawsuits and protests. But like the game before, it was critically acclaimed.
3 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (27.5 Million Copies)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas serves as the seventh title in the series, and was originally published in 2004 for PlayStation 2. This time the game follows Carl Johnson, who came to Los Santos to attend her mother’s funeral but became involved in various gang-related activities.
Grand Theft Auro: San Andreas sold 17.33 million copies just for PlayStation 2 which made it the bestselling game of that platform. With later ports, the sales totaled 27.5 million copies. As with the previous GTA titles, it was critically very well received and once again met with various controversies.
2 Red Dead Redemption 2 (34 Million Copies)
The development of Red Dead Redemption 2 started after the first game and had a development staff of 2 000 people, and the game was eventually published in 2018.
With the commercial and the critical success of Red Dead Redemption, many believed that its sequel will be one of the bestselling games of 2018. They weren’t wrong, the game had the largest opening weekend in the history of entertainment, making over 800 million dollars in revenue with millions of copies sold. The game sold 23 million by the end of the year, and later the sales reached 34 million.
1 Grand Theft Auto V (135 Million Copies)
Grand Theft Auto V was widely anticipated and extensively marketed, and broke many sales records. It sold around 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, and in the next six weeks sales reached 29 million, which exceeded the lifetime sales of the previous entry.
The game sold 135 million copies, as of August 2020, which makes it the bestselling Rockstar game as well the second bestselling videogame of all time. The game also holds several Guinness World Records, with being the highest-grossing game in the first 24 hours, and the fastest video game to gross 1 billion dollars.
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