After crushing the launch day sales record on Tuesday, Grand Theft Auto V has earned another significant milestone for publisher Take-Two. The title has crested $1 billion in worldwide retail sales in just three days.

This news is surely a relief to CEO Strauss Zelnick, whose company's success this year and beyond hinges on powerful sales of Grand Theft Auto V. "Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment," Zelnick says. "We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary critical and commercial response to Grand Theft Auto V."

Our Take

Grand Theft Auto has been keeping Take-Two afloat during the down times, as the series has an extremely long tail (the volume of sales over time following release). Not only does a new release spike revenues, but it also incentivizes gamers to investigate the back catalog (sometimes spurring purchases of already owned games on new platforms). GTA V will be even more significant should the title see staggered releases on PC and next-generation platforms (as I suspect it will). At this point, Call of Duty is going to have a nearly impossible time beating GTA's sales this year, ending a four-year streak.