Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has revealed that the Grand Theft Auto series has now shipped 125 million copies since its debut on the original PlayStation.

Speaking at the Credit Suisse 2012 Technology Conference, he claimed that the series’ continued success was down to the refusal to adopt an annual release schedule. “It’s our view that if you want intellectual properties to be permanent, then you run the risk in that circumstance of having consumers fall out of love with that franchise. [Activision] obviously views the world differently,” he said.

Zelnick then went on to compare the series’ success to Activision’s Call of Duty, noting the drop in sales. “That’s never been the case with one of ours,” he said. “Ours do better each time. Our view is it’s hard to make permanent intellectual properties if you annualize it, with the exception of sports titles. So far that’s proven to be the case. IP that is annualized eventually seems to hit the wall and we don’t want our IP to hit the wall.”

Grand Theft Auto V is due to release spring 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.