GTA 5 named the biggest game of 2013 after selling over 32 million copies

The game is expected to maintain its momentum amid rumours it will be released on more consoles in the summer

Kashmira Gander

Tuesday 04 February 2014 23:58 GMT

A gamer poses with his copy of the console game Grand Theft Auto 5 at the midnight opening of the 17 September, 2013. GTA V has since become the biggest selling game of 2013, according to its makers.

(LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

Gangland videogame Grand Theft Auto V has sold over 32 million copies, its publisher has revealed, claiming title of the biggest selling game of 2013.

Take-Two Interactive announced the game’s total sales between its 17 September launch and the end of 2013, alongside the company’s third-quarter earnings. They cited NPD research data as the source behind their claim at having made the best-selling game of last year.

The figure includes the 29 million copies that were sold by the end of October 2013.

Take-Two also revealed that 70 per cent of its players had played GTA Online, which it said contributed to the company’s “strong growth”.

“Take-Two's business continued to outperform expectations significantly during the fiscal third quarter,” said Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two.

“Take-Two was the top video game publisher of 2013, according to the NPD Group, underscoring our positive momentum over the past year," he added.

In October, the Guiness World Records confirmed that the game had smashed six world records, including becoming the fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion (£626 million) - doing so in just three days. It was also had the highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours.

It is believed to have cost Rockstar Games $266 million to make, a figure that was returned with hours of the game’s release.

Sales of the game are expected to stay high in 2014, with its PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC releases rumoured for June – a date not yet been confirmed by Take-Two.

See the best tech showcased at CES 2014:

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

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1/12CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

With a pair of robotic toys named Bo and Yana (that's Bo playing the xylophone on the left) Play-i are hoping they can teach children how to code. Whilst there's plenty of similiar initiatives, Play-i are hoping they can reach young children, offering the mobile bots alongside a visual programming language that can be used by kids as young as 5. They fit together simple instructions (such as 'when blocked, turn right', or 'when shaken, play sound X') to teach Bo and Yana to respond to their environments, learning the blocks and mechanics of coding along the way.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

The Pebble is one of the most venerable smartwatches out there but consumers have often complained that the device feels somewhat cheap and flimsy. The answer is the new Pebble Steel, an up-market model made from quality materials that comes with either a leather or steel-link strap. The e-ink interface remains identical but has now been covered with scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass. Expect increasingly attractive devices like the Steel as wearables become less of an oddity and more of a fashion statement.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

Continuing to prove that drones can be fun for all as well as weapons of war, French company Parrot have released the MiniDrone - a compact version of their popular AR Drone quadrocopter. Portable enough to fit into a backpack with ease (the wheels on the side are detachable), the MiniDrone is controlled by a paired smartphone app over Bluetooth and has internal gyroscopes to keep it stable even when your hands are off the controls. Prices aren't yet known but it could be a perfect gift for the budding drone-pilot in your family.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

Panasonic made its name with its high-quality TVs, but at CES it has also showed off a high-tech blowdryer with a flashy name to match. The "Nanoe" will actually wet your hair as it dries it. Pansonic claim that the device takes "mositure from your hair and in the air, and uses it to create tiny, moisture-rich particles that are small enough to penetrate the shafts of your hair".

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

The theme of 'everyday household object + smartphone app' is becoming an overly-familiar formula, especially when the the app in question can chivvy you into healthier habits. The Kolibree toothbrush (left) does exactly this for your dental hygiene, monitoring how long your brush and even where in the mouth you've covered. A connected app will time your daily routine and provide you with charts and data to compare with friends and family.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

Whether you think the gadget in this picture looks creepy or caring will probably be a good prediction of how you'd feel about it tracking you round the house. It's the disturbingly named Mother from Sen.se, a company that specializes in connected devices. Each Mother comes with a number of senors the size of coin that can detect temperature, location and movement. They all feed info back to the Mother (which then reports to your smartphone) and can be used to record anything from how much you walk in a day to whether your plants need watering. Sen.se claims that Mother "offers the knowledge and comfort you want, when and how you want it, all while remaining discreet."

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

Typing on smartphones and other mobile devices is never convenient but a company named TrewGrip think they have a solution: 'rear typing'. Their eponymous gadget (left) wraps around your phone or tablet, repositioning a traditional qwerty keyboard into a vaugely steering wheel-like grip. A built in accelerometer lets you control an on-screen mouse by tiling the device around and the company promises a learning curve of 8-10 hours.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

The little wheeled cylinder at the bottom of this picture might not look like much, but its makers - Orbotix - promise that the Sphero 2B is the best smartphone-connected toy on the market. Controlled by both iOS and Android handsets, the $99 device is rugged and programmable, with the makers hoping that users will learn how to think like a coder whilst they use it. Augmented reality games where the graphics pop up on mobile devices are available or you can simply engage in some traditional bumper car style fun with a pair of Spheros.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

The new Aura from Withings (left) wants to help you wake up and fall asleep as gently as possible. Consisting of a soft pillow-sized pad that you slip under your sheet and a bedside lamp and speaker, the Aura monitors your sleeping patterns (including breathing and heart rates) before waking you at the right point in your sleep cycle with a gentle combination of light and sound. Coming to the UK in spring from £200, the Aura will connect to your smartphone, log your sleeping patterns and give you the best advice to catch 40 winks every night.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

Curved screen displays for smartphones looks set to continue as a trend into 2014, with the LG G Flex (left) attracting plenty of attention. LG claim that the hand set (which curves from top to bottom) will better fit the contours of your face and offer users a more 'immersive' viewing experience. Whether or not it fits in your pocket quite so easily remains to be seen.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

There's nothing that gets geeks more excited than the prospect of a smart oven (this wasn't even the only example from CES this year). With the new Discovery IQ Dual-Fuel (left) you get 10 different cooking modes that can be controlled remotely from your smartphone; you get cooking tutorials that you can download straight to the Android touchscreen on the hob itself; and - the clincher on the whole thing - you even get slow-closing doors.

CES 2014: The best gadgets from Las Vegas so far

The PrioVR (left) wants to take the idea of gamers using their body as a controller (as seem with the likes of the Kinect and the Nintendo Wii) and make it as accurate as possible with a full-body motion-capturing suit. Currently only the upper-body portion is available but the makers, Yei Technology, promise that the legs are on the way. Gamers use a pair of nunchuck controllers to move about, whilst the arm and head trackers capture where you're looking and aiming.

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