Grand Theft Auto V releasing next spring

Grand Theft Auto V, the next entry in Rockstar North's extremely popular open world game series, will release worldwide for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next spring. Grand Theft Auto is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, selling more than 114 million copies since its first release in 1997. The last mainline entry, which debuted five years ago, alone has shipped over 22 million units. Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia has predicted that Grand Theft Auto V will sell up to 25 million copies in its first year -- considerably more than the sales of 15 to 17 million units that Rockstar owner has previously estimated. Rockstar has shared few details about the game, other than it will take place in an area inspired by Los Angeles and Southern California (the location was also featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas). It put out Grand Theft Auto V's first and only trailer about a year ago. The game will be the second big release from Take-Two next year -- following BioShock Infinite in February from Take-Two label 2K Games -- and the first major title shipping during the parent company's next fiscal year (starting April 2013).