Grand Theft Auto 5 hits $1 billion in three days, sets new record

Three days after launching, Grand Theft Auto 5 became the fastest entertainment property to hit $1 billion in sales, according to company estimates released by publisher Take-Two Interactive today.

"Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment," Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two, said in a prepared statement. "We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary critical and commercial response to Grand Theft Auto 5."

The news comes just days after the company announced that the title tallied $800 million in sales on its launch day.

Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 previously held the record as the entertainment release that was the quickest to reach the $1 billion mark — last November, Black Ops 2 grossed $1 billion within 15 days of launch, one day faster than 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and two days faster than the three fastest movies to hit that number: Avatar, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and, most recently, The Avengers. Black Ops 2 pulled in more than $500 million on its launch day.

The game is available in a $59.99 standard edition, a $79.99 Special Edition and a GameStop-exclusive Collector's Edition for $149.99. Take-Two did not release a figure for the total number of Grand Theft Auto 5 copies that have been sold so far.

You can read and watch our review of Grand Theft Auto 5 here, and take a spoiler-free tour through the game's first six hours in our Today I Played video. For a more in-depth look at the open-world title, read our interviews with creative director Dan Houser about metaphysics and the game's three protagonists and whether the Grand Theft Auto franchise is still relevant.