Starting April 1st and carrying through the end of May, Rockstar Games said they will donate 5% of the revenue for GTA Online and Red Dead Online for the next month to fight the Coronavirus. They said, “community is at the center of everything we do. As our teams navigate these difficult times, we see our local communities across North America, the United Kingdom, India, and beyond being deeply affected.” The company said it would share more info about those donations as time goes on.
This announcement applies to areas where Rockstar Games has its studios, including North America, India, and the UK. “Small businesses have closed their doors, and communities who rely on government-provided support that they cannot access are struggling. The road ahead will be challenging, and we want to help where we can,” the company wrote on Facebook. The statement continues to say that, “These funds will be used to help local communities and businesses struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, both directly and by supporting some of the amazing organizations that are on the ground helping those affected by this crisis. As things progress, we will share more on these efforts.”
Meanwhile, audiences for the two online games are still steadily growing as of now. According to Take-Two, the parent company to Take-Two Interactive says that Rockstar’s 2018 release Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 35 million copies since its release and Grand Theft Auto V has sold more than 115 million copies. In 2017, SuperData gave report saying that Grand Theft Auto V had made $1,092 billion since its initial release in 2013 with a large part of it coming from in-game purchases alone. At the same time, companies like Ndemic Creations and games like Halo 5 donating a lot of their proceeds towards coronavirus research and relief.