It's unclear if this has something to do with the introduction of BattlEye in Grand Theft Auto Online mid-September.
The second-best-selling video game of all time, Grand Theft Auto 5, lost traction in September. The Rockstar Games title couldn't fight off several blockbuster titles that topped the sales charts in Europe, which saw the game drop to 6th place in Europe (down from second in August) and 7th in the United States and Canada (down from August's fourth-place numbers), as per Sony.
GamesIndustry.biz also confirms that GTA 5 was "only" the 7th best-selling game in the United Kingdom last month, with its combined disc and digital sales falling short of other new titles, including EA Sports FC 25, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and Astro Bot.
Interestingly, September was quite the month for Rockstar and GTA Online. After many years, the long-time GTA developers finally introduced BattlEye into GTA Online. The initial implementation of the anti-cheat software resulted in a wave of false positive bans of innocent GTA Online players, which Rockstar claims it has already reversed.
However, if your account is still banned, you can try appealing the decision but you shouldn't expect too much. Rockstar has clarified that those who didn't receive emails about ban reversals were caught cheating.
BattlEye has also prevented players on Linux and Steam Deck from enjoying GTA Online, resulting in a surge of negative reviews on Steam. Rockstar and Valve have since promised to find a solution, although there's no update yet.
While the GTA 5 sales decline is surprising, it shouldn't last long. Rockstar recently released its latest Halloween-themed update, complete with bonuses for GTA+ members. With GTA 5 Expanded and Enhanced expected to arrive soon following the earlier leaks, sales of the game should jump a couple of spots upwards again in due time.
As of now, the GTA franchise's total sales are up to 430 million, with GTA 5 alone making up nearly half of this number at 200 million.
Rockstar continues to stay silent regarding GTA 6, for good reason, but Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick did confirm in a recent earnings call that the game is still set for a fall 2025 release.
In the meantime, Rockstar can trust GTA 5 and GTA Online to continue bringing in more money despite already being over 11 years old.
