GTA V

So, pretty much the entire world is going mental over Rockstar’s latest video game, Grand Theft Auto V, and with pretty good reason. Overwhelmingly good critical reviews, intense media saturation and a pretty strong history have all played in the game’s favour, and five years after the last entry in the series, it’s lived up to the public’s expectations.

So much so, in fact, that as reported here, it made $1 billion in three days. The game industry is the fastest-growing component of the international media sector, surpassing both the movie and music industries, and GTA V is a great example of just how fast the business is growing. It seems like every year, whether it’s Call of Duty, Skyrim or GTA, records are being smashed in regards to units sold and money made.

Yet mainstream media doesn’t really seem to accept video games as a legitimate medium yet, condemning them whenever the latest troubled teen shoots up a school, or otherwise painting them as recreational amusement for kids, despite the average age of a gamer being around 30. I don’t really have a point here, but it just seems like with every benchmark the gaming industry sets, it’d be great if it could receive the recognition it deserved – if other industries took notice, maybe even worked together (as some directors are starting to do now), some truly great products could be produced and a lot of money could be made.