A closer look
Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V in 2013, and it has since sold over a mind-bending 190 million copies to become the most financially successful single entertainment product in the entire history of human civilization. It has generated over eight billion dollars in revenue, absolutely dwarfing the box office returns of massive cultural touchstones like Avatar, Star Wars, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe combined. The cultural zenith of our species is not a profound novel or an emotionally moving piece of cinema, it is a satirical crime simulator where you can steal a fighter jet, blow up a digital strip club, and immediately get run over by an ambulance. We as a society have overwhelmingly voted with our wallets, and we decided that our peak artistic achievement is launching a sports car off a mountain while listening to Phil Collins
