If you were in any doubt whatsoever, that the Grand Theft Auto games are really quite popular, the latest sales figures should clear that right up.

GamaSutra reports that in a presentation to a financial conference yesterday, Take 2’s Strauss Zelnick revealed the lifetime sales for a number of the company’s leading franchises.

The most recent Grand Theft Auto title, GTA IV, which was released in April 2008 has so far sold over 22 million copies worldwide. This puts the game ahead of the previous title, GTA: San Andreas, which had sold 21.5 million by the end of 2008.

In total however, the sales for the Grand Theft Auto franchise overall, since the original title was released in November 1997, have now reached 114 million copies.

The entire Grand Theft Auto series has, of course, been designed and developed in Scotland since the original game was created by DMA Design in Dundee. Rockstar North, based in Edinburgh is still the developer for the overall franchise (a couple of handheld titles aside), making GTA an entirely Scottish phenomenon.

And it IS a phenomenon. According to the lawsuit raised several years ago, Scotland’s other global cultural export, the Bay City Rollers, sold a mere 70 million records worldwide.

Congratulations to all concerned. We look forward to a statement of acknowledgement from the Scottish parliament and a proper blue plaque.

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