One billion dollars in 3 days. Wow. For comparison, it took Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 16 days to hit $1B, back in January 2012. Then Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 hit $1B in 15 days this past December. 3 days is astonishing.
Grand Theft Auto has been keeping Take-Two afloat during the down times, as the series has an extremely long tail (the volume of sales over time following release). Not only does a new release spike revenues, but it also incentivizes gamers to investigate the back catalog (sometimes spurring purchases of already owned games on new platforms). GTA V will be even more significant should the title see staggered releases on PC and next-generation platforms (as I suspect it will). At this point, Call of Duty is going to have a nearly impossible time beating GTA’s sales this year, ending a four-year streak.
With numbers like these, it is no wonder that Apple has added support for game controllers into iOS 7. Will game controller support be the force that erodes the chasm between iOS devices and traditional consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation? Time will tell.
GTAV is what, $60? On iOS the GTAIII games are around $5. The latest exclusive Call Of Duty game for iOS is around $7.
No way an iOS game is going to hit $1B profit in any short amount of time since it has become a ghetto for cheap or free games with sleazy IAP and ads.
If Apple wants to attract more AAA quality games to iOS they have to show there is a way for publishers to get returns on their multi-million dollar budgets. And they’re already having a tough time achieving that on the current consoles (see Tomb Raider).
A fair point, but that’s why the chasm exists. The question is, is the addition of controller support and Sprite Kit a move in a direction that will allow the construction of games that will draw console gamers into the iOS ecosphere? Not saying that an iOS game will bring in that kind of cash. More asking if the market is heading for a change. Will game controllers and Sprite Kit be a disruptive force?
It’s a billion in sales, not profits. Rockstar does not get all $60 from each of those sales and GTA V reportedly cost $265 million in development and marketing. They should still get a nice profit in the long run, but if you want to compare console development to iOS development straight profit is not what matters. Rockstar could easily get the same relative ROI (percentage, not absolute profit) on iOS games which are much cheaper to produce and which could reuse many assets created for the console version of the game.
There’s no way that iOS devices come close to a console. First, can I play my iPhone on my big screen TV? Can I load 30GB of a game into my iPhone?
There’s a place for gaming on iPhones, and that is where things like the PS Vita and the Nintendo DS used to live. There’s also a place for gaming on consoles, and portable devices just cannot get there yet.