Kotaku
Sony just rattled our mailbox to let us know that, presumably just as a single copy of GT5 Prologue was slid into a plastic bag and handed to a customer somewhere in Japan, that the combined sales from the Gran Turismo series have now reached 50 million units in the ten years since the series debuted on PS1. Attached to the press release is a handy guide to just how many copies of each game have been sold, but if you simply must know now, the highest-selling title (by a fairly comfortable margin, too) is GT3, with the god-awful GT4: Prologue registering as the poorest-performing of the lot.
Tokyo, May 9, 2008 - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that the cumulative worldwide shipment of the Gran Turismo™ franchise, a genre-defining racing and car-life simulator available on PlayStation®, PlayStation®2, and PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment systems, has exceeded 50 million units as of April 30, 2008. This remarkable sales figure was achieved in just 10 years and 4 months since the launch of the first title in the franchise - Gran Turismo, in December 1997.The Gran Turismo franchise, from the original Gran Turismo to the latest Gran Turismo™ 5 Prologue, has continued to evolve alongside the PlayStation platforms. With its outstanding game play, beautiful graphics and the true to life driving feel, the franchise is recognized as the world's number one automotive game title on the PlayStation format, receiving high regard not just from game fans, but also from professional racing drivers and people in the automobile industry.
The seventh installment of the world's best-selling racing franchise, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue introduces entirely new entertainment modes by taking advantage of the broadband network, such as online head-to head racing for up to 16 players, "GRAN TURISMO-TV"; a new in-game online channel that delivers automotive video contents from around the globe, and downloadable additional contents including new cars and courses, only possible on PS3. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has recorded strong sales since the first launch in Japan in December, 2007, followed by North America and Europe in Spring of 2008, with more than 2 million units of cumulative shipment worldwide and contributing to the further expansion of the PS3 platform.
For all Gran Turismo fans around the world, SCEI and the developer of the Gran Turismo series - Polyphony Digital Inc., will continue hereon to vigorously promote development of the Gran Turismo series, which can be expected to evolve even further through the PS3 platform and broadband network environment.
"Initially, "Gran Turismo" was an "alternative" racing game, kind of an outsider in the genre." said Kazunori Yamauchi, Producer of Gran Turismo on a press release on Kotaku."And we made it thinking that it would be okay as long as it reached out to "the select few who would agree with us". So this figure, 50 million units - is simply astounding. If you go to a game store and look for a particular package, and pay for it at the cash register, though the time may be very brief, it still takes at least 3 minutes or so. It's simply mind boggling and hard to believe that this has been repeated 50 million times all around the world in the last 10 years. I would really like to thank all the fans who have supported the Gran Turismo series over the years, for all their passion and love of the game. We'd like to continue making every effort to create cutting edge, high quality games, so that we don't disappoint anyone's expectations.
Comments
with the god-awful GT4: Prologue registering as the poorest-performing title.
Even thought it was (as you put it) god-awful, it still sold nearly 1.4mil without a release in the USA.
Not bad for a demo (which I purchased). :p
GT5:prologue was kinda a let down, but then agian I'm not too into car-based games in which you don't have the ability to get out of your car and murder the other drivers after they cut you off.
Kudos to them for hiting the big 50,000,000 mark though.
The GT series is my favourate by far, been enjoyin the hell out of GT5:P. However that "1" sold copy of Gran Turismo concept one Tokyo in Europe just made me laugh like hell.
Hats off to PD and Sony on their accomplishment. Looking forward to addin to that number again when GT5 launches.
@Jamaicangmr:
Oh my bad just checked again and found that the "1" represents 1 million my bad.
That's a big 'ole grandaddy of a series though, huh?
And I've finished 'em all (except either of the prologues). All the good ones. Bring on No.5! I've got £300.00 with GT5 and PS3 written all over it!
@Jamaicangmr: did you go into cardiac arrest when you saw 0.13 copies sold ?
@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.:
Naww that was clearly 130k but miss understood the 1 for a sec thats all nothing more.
When i first saw GT3's graphics.. I just had to get it, even though i don't really like realistic racing games :)
Oooh, this reminds me that I DLed GT5: Prologue from the PS Store weeks ago and still haven't tried it. Why on Earth did I buy it in the first place? I don't even like racing games...
Sometimes, me confuses me to the point that I and I don't recognize myself. Or something.
That looks like a really big number, but I'd be interested to see how it stacks up against some of the other great franchises of recent game history.
@残心:
[en.wikipedia.org]
GT2 was the best in the series. Been downhill since, and I have no reason to expect that to change.
@GregoriusH:
Holy shit, Crash Fucking Bandicoot is only 5 million copies behind Sonic the Hedgehog?
50 mil in ten years?
like 5mill a year :)
Does anyone actually like Gran Turismo games? I've never managed to play one for more than an hour - at most. They are the height of taedium. As if it were boring enough going around a track over and over again to see whose peener is bigger, the controls are extremely difficult. The whole series is just a big bag of shiat with a high-gloss veneer.
weren't*
We got served :(
Wait, so GT5P has sold 2.25 million copies to date? What about all the people on the internet saying it was stupid and Sony should have released it for free? I thought they knew what they were talking about!
@shikaningen:
Wow. It takes a special type to look at the sales numbers and then ask if anyone likes the series...
Back to your cave, troll...
@chantastic: Please restructure your argument to make it sound and valid. It currently makes no sense.
2.23mm copies of GT5:P! That's awesome.
I wonder how many of those are online purchases. Vgchartz (i know, i know, they're crap) only has 1.52mm units sold world wide so I guess that would put online purchases at around 700K. That's about $28mm in online sales just for GT5:P. Not a bad chunk of change for nearly zero distribution cost, although I'm sure PSN takes their cut.
@TechnoDestructo: Yes, GT2 is still the best.
Forza will NEVER come close to the greatness that is Gran Turismo.
I hope the Gran Turismo mode will explain WHY we have the Car Wash in that... city thing...
Basically, it seems that America is tired of racing games in generally. Even such a big PS3 exclusive prologue didn't perform much better than a new ip such as Uncharted. That can explain the poor sales of great racing games such as Forza 2, PGR4, Dirt, and even Motorstorm.
(ya ya, Forza and Motorstorm sold well because it was bundled)
@shikaningen: Dude, there are only 5 buttons and and analog stick, 3 buttons if you go with automatic. How is that complicated?
Whilst I'm not a fan of this series, I can completely see why it's sold so much, it looks gobsmackingly stunning, GT4 still looks pretty damn impressive. I just don't care for the 'Driving Simulation' aspect, mostly because I'm gobsmackingly crap at it. Clearly I'm in the minority, although watching someone play it=entertainment for me
@Grimmjow Jeagerjaques: Congratulations on being irrelevant.
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