Peter Molyneux: GTA 5 sales ‘not impressive’

Grand Theft Auto 5 earned $800 million in first day sales. It's on track to become, if not already, one of biggest launches for any entertainment product ever — games, moves, television, etc. Just think about that for a second. Apparently, legendary developer and 22Cans boss Peter Molyneux has, and he's not too impressed.

"The newly released Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that's everywhere, you can hardly avoid it. It will achieve around $1 billion in revenue on consoles in just one month," Molyneux said at the Mobile Entertainment's Top 50 Mobile Innovators party. "Sounds impressive, doesn't it? No. That's not impressive."

Rather, what Molyneux finds "outstandingly impressive is the success of mobile companies like Supercell, who has released games including Hay Day and Clash of Clans.

"Those games, which were released 18 months ago, are achieving revenue between $3 million and $5 million each day. That's impressive."

Now Molyneux is a smart man, much smarter than I. But I'm hard-pressed to say $800 million isn't an impressive feat. It's worth noting that Molyneux was speaking at a mobile-centric event, so it's somewhat understandable why he would tout the success of mobile games over AAA blockbusters such as GTA 5. Mobile games may not get the credit they deserve — especially when it comes to their own sales success — but it's a little ignorant to call GTA 5's success not impressive.