GTA5 billboard image via Grégory/Flickr
With the relaunch of GTA V on next-generation consoles imminent, Rockstar Games has released an infographic charting how the equivalent of eight times Ireland’s population has played GTA Online.
Between 1 October 2013 and 31 October 2014, GTA Online has seen 33,834,423 players pass through its servers, which one of the largest gaming companies in the world is claiming was spread across 224 countries, despite the fact only 196 official nation states exist.
Given the nature of the violent sandbox game, weapons have been bought at a rate that makes Silk Road look like a corner shop, with just fewer than 342m guns sold owned throughout the year.
From Rockstar Games’ statistics, players’ preferences appear to favour assault rifles, accounting for 18pc, equalling the amount spent on ‘projectiles’, or rocket launchers to you and me.
While the staggering numbers show the unsurprising popularity of one of the biggest gaming franchises of all times, GTA Online has not been without its technical issues.
Given the incredible demand, on the day it officially went live, the game was practically unplayable as the servers were unable to cope with the onslaught of millions of players trying to log on at the same time, an issue which took days to fix.
Another major bug-bearer for its legion of dedicated players has been the lack of introduction of the ability to plan and orchestrate heist missions with friends, something which was promoted from launch and is only now due for release sometime following its launch on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on 18 November.
Click on the infographic below for a larger version.
