GTA V could make $1 billion in first month, sell 20 million copies by March

You only need to spend a few minutes on the internet to see thatGrand Theft Auto V is a big deal. People lined up to collect their pre-orders and took the day off work to play the sprawling action game. Now analysts are translating that fervor into a dollar value. GTA V could rake in $1 billion in its first month and sell 20 million units by March 2014, predictions say.

For those who don’t keep up with game sales, those are very big numbers. The game might even make $400 million of that $1 billion in the first day alone. For reference, GTA IV has sold 25 million units, but it was released in 2008. The new incarnation of GTA could do in months what it took its predecessor years to do. This isn’t just fast for GTA, it’s fast for games in general. Call of Duty: Black Ops took almost twice as long to reach $1 billion in sales.

So is the game just that much better? Well, partially. Early reviews for GTA V are stellar. IGN and Giant Bomb both gave it perfect scores, whereas Game Informer went with 98/100. So, those folks calling in sick to play are certainly not regretting it. However, the other factor making GTA V a big seller is the huge install base of existing game consoles. We’re at the end of the cycle, and the Xbox 360 and PS3 are heavily discounted. Basically everyone who wants these consoles has them.

Take-Two interactive was only counting on $750-800 million by the end of the year, which is still nothing to sneeze at. $1 billion in the first month would be a real windfall.