HIGHLIGHTS
- Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition could be out in March
- It could include incentives to play GTA Online
- It was spotted on Amazon Germany
Following its spectacular sales in 2017, it appears that Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) may be getting a new variant. A listing on Amazon Germany suggests that publisher Take-Two could be gearing up to release Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition. Currently, it’s listed for the Xbox One though it’s safe to say it would be coming to the PS4 and PC as well.
At the moment the exact contents of Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition are unknown. However the store listing has it pegged for a March 23, 2018 release date. If we were to hazard a guess, this could be the game along with GTA Online Shark Cards rather than visual optimisations for the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X that some are suggesting. Reason being, with GTA Online being exceedingly popular years after it was released with GTA V, it’s safe to say that Rockstar and Take-Two would want to capitalise on this and take it further.
Previously, Take-Two announced that GTA V sold over 90 million units worldwide with it’s multiplayer component, GTA Online, being the largest driver of consumer expenditure in the last quarter. GTA Online will see more content updates in the months to come.
This means that GTA V sold 15 million units in 2017 alone. Not too shabby for a game that originally released in 2013. To put it into perspective, Star Wars Battlefront 2 sold seven million units and that was below publisher EA’s expectations.
“Looking at the numbers, and accounting for the PS3, 360 and PC versions, we can roughly say that more than one in three PS4 and XB1 [Xbox One] owners have a copy of Grand Theft Auto 5. The game is a must buy with a current gen console purchase,” tweeted industry analyst Daniel Ahmad.
“We are expecting another record year for Grand Theft Auto Online,” Take-Two Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick said on an earnings call. “Everything is going better than expected and we do have pretty high expectations.”
The company reported net income of $25.1 million (around Rs. 160 crore), or 21 cents per share, in third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $29.8 million (roughly Rs. 190 crore), or 33 cents per share, a year earlier. Take-Two said it had a net benefit of $11.9 million (approximately Rs. 77 crore) in the latest quarter from the overhaul of the US tax code.
With GTA V for the Nintendo Switch rumoured to be in the works this could be a way for Take-Two and Rockstar to prop up profits until 64GB game cartridges are available for the Switch.
Source: gadgets.ndtv.com
