GTAIV shatters records with $500M in week-one sales

Take-Two proclaims open-world actioner "largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment"; day-one sales top 3.6 million units, week-one sales over 6 million.

In the weeks leading up to the release of Take-Two and Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, predictions were in abundance as to how well the game would do. While analysts' predictions were mixed, Take-Two execs themselves were reportedly under the impression that the game would shift 6 million units in its first week after measuring out preorder demand.

It turns out that prediction was spot on. The Rockstar Games parent said today that Grand Theft Auto IV has sold through to consumers 6 million units globally in its first week, generating income of approximately $500 million. First-day sales for the game hit 3.6 million and tallied a staggering $310 million--nearly double Halo 3's $170 million day-one take and $10 million more than the sci-fi shooter's entire opening-week haul.

Unsurprisingly, Take-Two was quick to tout GTAIV's new position as the best-selling launch of any entertainment property, gaming or otherwise, ever. "Grand Theft Auto IV's first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date," said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

GTAIV's unprecedented launch has been a primary point of contention in the ongoing takeover talks between beleaguered Take-Two and its rival Electronic Arts. With EA saying Rockstar and its open-world crime adventure--which is just the fifth game in GameSpot's history to score a 10--are of paramount interest in the $2 billion hostile advance on Take-Two, Take-Two has said that the company's value won't be fully determinable until after the launch of the game. EA's tender offer to shareholders--which was lowered to $25.74 in light of Take-Two's share-dilution poison pill--expires May 16.

621 Comments

  • Eternal_Solitude

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 5:16 pm PT

    It is funny to hear how on one hand, Rockstar makes an absurd amount of money on this, and then on the other hand how game companies cry how their bottom line is being hurt by piracy, which is more of an exuse to control the resale of used games. This is already affecting the PC, as gamers are forced to activate the games online, forced to use key codes, and in a lot of cases cannot resell the game anymore thanks to places like Steam and others. As a result, I don't buy as many PC games as I used to. This is coming to consoles at some point, no doubt. Next time a game company whines about the bottom line, point out to the game sales of games like Halo, GTA and numerous others. And honestly, they could have charged $50 for GTA and still made a boatload of money, but they were greedy knowing that they could charge $60 and get away with it, because everyone has to have this game, me including.

    Just a comment on this post, in canada I paid 70$ plus tax and as I live in quebec had to pay a tax on a tax brinign the total close 90$ and this is on any newly released game, which makes me rely on purchasing used games. I can honestly say that 75% of my game collection which exceeds 60 games have been purchased used, this is not including my vintage collection thats my own obsession lol...

  • willmaster510

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 2:08 am PT

    6 million x $60.00 doesn't equal 500 million WTF is going on

  • tiki203

    Posted Nov 30, 2008 7:18 am PT

    Not surprising they got 500m in the first week ;-p

  • AngryAndy

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 7:14 pm PT

    Vermin14 - such an applicable name for a person with such a spoiler-riffic avatar.

    Why don't you switch things up for a few months and give some people a chance to catch up, man?

  • Nekromenos

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 5:12 am PT

    Good, now that you've made insane amounts of cash, PC version please?

  • bam226

    Posted May 13, 2008 12:27 am PT

    sorry guys Niko just jacked the Master Chief, pistol-whipped him and drove off with his warthog end of story. it goes to show how much money the is in multiplatfoming. numbers dont lie.

  • Vermin14

    Posted May 12, 2008 10:12 pm PT

    Ha i hope this pisses off jack thompson

  • cwhas2godhands

    Posted May 12, 2008 12:50 pm PT

    lookout for "50 cent: bulletproof 2". it could give gta a run for it's money. It's your birthday!

  • SlayerXYZ

    Posted May 11, 2008 6:18 pm PT

    COD5 will probably beat this it has 6 Platforms! (Including DS). Yeah GG GTA4.

  • pistolpowell

    Posted May 10, 2008 9:44 pm PT

    andrew_ribbons: "Gears of War 2's release on the 360 is gunna give both Halo 3 and GTA4 a run for their money."

    Thats probably one of the dumbest things i've ever heard! GOW is only on 360 so its losing all the sales on the PS3 that GTAIV is recieving. There is no way that GOW4 beats GTAIV!

  • bavcov

    Posted May 10, 2008 9:32 pm PT

    LOL 500million??? Just goes to show you that the movie industry ain't never gonna be as popular anymore. Anybody who thinks Ironman is gonna be a huge hit, **** that. Remember all the other **** superhero movies that were supposed to be so great and nobody cares now? (... cough, cough, HULK, cough, Batman Begins, superman returns, cough...)

    Even Halo 3, which made like 300mil took out all of the movies that month. No offense but i just don't see what was so great about that game. Fighting another race of beings to save mankind??? really? How many of those have been around? (cough, Gears of War, Mass Effect, cough...) I think too many people got a wild hair up their ass to see Master Chief again. Don't worry, it's obvious they'll make Halo 4.

    But Rockstar's got a huge challenge now, how are they gonna follow up this kinda record? What game could possibly be anticipated so much as IV, Vice City 2? I think it might be better, but it won't nearly be as amazing as when IV hit the shelves...

  • freudanian

    Posted May 10, 2008 6:18 pm PT

    GTA is like a religion to gamers and will outsell HALO by a long shot. The previous iterations defined the last genre and there are so many people out there who will buy a console just to play this game.

    Halo 3 was excellently marketed and is clearly Microsofts flagship game but it lacks the wider appeal of GTA because sci-fi shooters are much more of a nich genre.

    I would actually argue that GTA is in a genre of its own as it's that unique and popular. The game is culturally relevent, filled with black comedy and satire and just oozes cool. Any game which has you cracking up over the in-game television shows is a work of pure genius.

  • JEEBUS_BOGONDO

    Posted May 10, 2008 3:09 pm PT

    marginally?? it annihilated halo 3's sales! and why do are you threatened by this? oh, could it be that you are another moronic simple minded halo fanboy? you just cant live with the idea that there are games other than halo that are great games. I cant stand fanboyism of any kind. "First-day sales for the game hit 3.6 million and tallied a staggering $310 million--nearly double Halo 3's $170 million day-one take and $10 million more than the sci-fi shooter's entire opening-week haul." yeah, thats a little more than 2% little buddy.

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted May 10, 2008 10:54 am PT

    Wow, so an 11 year old franchise spread across two platforms this time, manages to marginally beat Halo's 7 year old franchise in opening week sales, which was exclusive to one platform only. Plus consider the fact that in the 9 months since Halo 3's launch the userbase of both platforms has greatly increased.

    So is GTA4 beating Halo 3's opening week's sales by 2% anything special? I'd say not, it's not surprising at all. The bigger the userbases, the more often records like this will be beaten. Gears of War 2's release on the 360 is gunna give both Halo 3 and GTA4 a run for their money.

  • SpoonHeroSR

    Posted May 10, 2008 12:52 am PT

    GTA IV on the 360 alone outsold the Halo3. So if you wanna compare it like that without bringing the PS3. For all you guys saying "Its unfair for halo 3" blah blah blah. GTA will always outsell any Halo or any game.

  • rezytheman

    Posted May 10, 2008 12:10 am PT

    I wanna personally give props to Take Two, they showed EA they got bigger balls and now they are just reaping the benefits.

  • hm_xtreme911

    Posted May 9, 2008 8:58 pm PT

    YEP. thought so.

  • skate_n_game

    Posted May 9, 2008 5:27 pm PT

    No surprise at all.

  • mcbride69

    Posted May 9, 2008 3:46 pm PT

    WOW

  • bigpimppapa

    Posted May 9, 2008 3:45 pm PT

    That Just goes to show you that the game industry is ripping us off big time. $500 Million one week. How about the men and women who fight for our freedom. Be it law enforcement or military what did they make? That is like the game companys are laughing right in our faces

  • blackace

    Posted May 9, 2008 11:02 am PT

    _JPH_ I think people tend to buy GTA 4 on PS3 more than on the 360. I mean even with the downloadable content and the achievements on the 360, stil people felt that GTA was a PS series and they bought it over the 360. I mean if someone owns a 360 and a PS3, he bought it for the PS3. That's my guess. *************************************************
    Well, you would have guessed wrong then. Go and read this story where the XBxo 360 version has outsold the PS3 verion 3:2. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6190638.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;8

  • blackace

    Posted May 9, 2008 10:57 am PT

    ShadowOfKratos people say "Halo 3 was only on one console"... shut the **** up with the excuses and make your ******* maths ******. GTA4 sold more than double of Halo 3, so even IF you had Halo 3 come out in 2 consoles it would still have lost... maybe not by much, but that wouldn't change it's 2nd placing, especially since everybody is saying that 360 games sell more than PS3 games, which would mean that Halo 3 would actually have a sells rate less than double.
    **********************************************
    It's a fact. If you compare just the PS3 GTA IV one week numbers to Halo 3 one week sales numbers, HALO 3 wins. Without the 360 GTA IV figures added in GTA IV would not have sold more copies then Halo 3. No one knows how many copies Halo 3 would have sold if it had been released for the PS3 as well. lol!! So get your facts straight. Comparing sales between an exlcuisve title and a multiplat title is irrelevant. They should be comparing the sales of COD4 or Guitar Hero 3 with GTA IV. All of those games were multiplat titles.

  • XRockStarDaveX

    Posted May 9, 2008 10:23 am PT

    I still believe that Zelda did better. in numbers GTA kick ass on a level that will be near impossible to beat anytime soon. But look at how many systems are out there and how huge that game indestery has gotten. compared to the 1998 realise of Ocarina of Time . When the gaming world was still small AND it was a nintendo exclusive. Dont get me wrong I LOVE GTA. this one does deserve all the hype its getting. its truly an amazing game.

  • Dkarlowicz

    Posted May 9, 2008 4:40 am PT

    It is funny to hear how on one hand, Rockstar makes an absurd amount of money on this, and then on the other hand how game companies cry how their bottom line is being hurt by piracy, which is more of an exuse to control the resale of used games. This is already affecting the PC, as gamers are forced to activate the games online, forced to use key codes, and in a lot of cases cannot resell the game anymore thanks to places like Steam and others. As a result, I don't buy as many PC games as I used to. This is coming to consoles at some point, no doubt. Next time a game company whines about the bottom line, point out to the game sales of games like Halo, GTA and numerous others. And honestly, they could have charged $50 for GTA and still made a boatload of money, but they were greedy knowing that they could charge $60 and get away with it, because everyone has to have this game, me including.

  • hannagargour

    Posted May 9, 2008 12:31 am PT

    It deserves it

  • lanista

    Posted May 9, 2008 12:06 am PT

    Well it will be spot on in selling 6 million copies

    Because it looks like that's how many they shipped

    If they'd shipped more then they may have sold more

    Because in the UK some stores sold out

  • BigSmitts07

    Posted May 8, 2008 11:01 pm PT

    like no one saw that coming

  • games100

    Posted May 8, 2008 10:49 pm PT

    I bought mine on first day to...along with 3.6 million others!!

    That is mad if you think about it !..MAD

  • bioghost

    Posted May 8, 2008 8:39 pm PT

    When will the PC version will be release i'm w8ing 4 this.......

  • sj420

    Posted May 8, 2008 7:51 pm PT

    half bil in a week. damn.

    60/40 360/ps3 is interesting. 200 mil for ps3 gta sales is not too shabby.

  • felshs

    Posted May 8, 2008 6:48 pm PT

    i bought it on the first day.......yesss.i`m a part of statistic ..is that good

  • fmtony

    Posted May 8, 2008 5:06 pm PT

    All that money, all those sales, and yet, I have a game that does not work. Can someone at Take Two PLEASE re-invest some of those funds into a patch for those few thousand of us that can't enjoy the game we bought with OUR hard-earned money.

  • thespyhunter86

    Posted May 8, 2008 5:01 pm PT

    You people are crazy--there's no way Halo 3 even had a prayer of outselling or outearning GTA 4 in its first week simply because it's on two consoles.

    And when you get down to it, I'd be willing to wager that more people were aware of GTA 4's release than Halo 3. Better press + more people that can play the game = bigger numbers.

    So what does it mean? Absolutely nothing. Congrats to Rockstar--great game, nice sales, but it doesn't make anyone or anything better than anything else.

  • thebeast619

    Posted May 8, 2008 4:40 pm PT

    its bungie fault way halo couldnt outsell gta4. all they had to do is put halo3 on the ps3 then it would been a closer comprassion

  • delta3074

    Posted May 8, 2008 4:17 pm PT

    go to virgins home page, go to entertainment, then go to games, then go to gaming news.

  • Deth_Walkr

    Posted May 8, 2008 4:00 pm PT

    Umm what I see up there is that it sold 'nearly' double. And you can't really compare the sales of an exclusive to a non-exclusive like that and I don't even really like Halo 3 that much. On that note GTA IV is the best game of the year!

    But being the fanboy and instigator I am^_^ *snicker* Get a PS3 exclusive to top Halo.

  • beatles5

    Posted May 8, 2008 3:52 pm PT

    hey doughtybenjamin what the hell are you talking about. the only reason gta outsikd halo 3 is because gta was on the 360 AND the ps3. I do think gta4 is better than halo though but it doesn't give you ps3 fanboys any right to say the ps3 is better.

  • jansong1

    Posted May 8, 2008 3:47 pm PT

    I bet nobody at Bungie is crying about how much GTA sold. Bungie, Rockstar, Sony, Microsoft, hell everybody but us is laughing all the way to the bank while we bicker over GTA this & Halo that.

  • Fat_Boy_PT

    Posted May 8, 2008 3:26 pm PT

    Rockstar really deserves this. They've made a magnificent job on this series!

  • doughtybenjamin

    Posted May 8, 2008 3:11 pm PT

    gta sold better on the ps3 so it must have sold better than halo did taking the xbox numbers from the gta numbers!

  • ps3thabest

    Posted May 8, 2008 3:02 pm PT

    KrunkMastaX it would still sell numbers if it was only on ps3 it was the most anticipated game of 2008

  • KrunkMastaX

    Posted May 8, 2008 2:12 pm PT

    Something you fanboys need to remember. Halo 3 was only on one system at launch. GTA4 was on 2. So it did pretty damn good day one and so forth for being a 360 exclusive. If GTA4 was a PS3 exclusive the numbers would not be that high. Trust me.

  • dav1000

    Posted May 8, 2008 1:58 pm PT

    marriage) i aint causing an argument but do you have any idea of what a ratio is? halo-360 sold 1.7 on first day. gta4 on ps3 and 360 sold double of that. 2 consoles, and double the sales. even though it wasnt exactly double, on average gta 4 shifted more on the first day than halo did in a week.

  • BloodofZodiac

    Posted May 8, 2008 1:47 pm PT

    teknicz, games company's have tried many times to stop the pirating of games and all their methods have just ended up hurting the consumer and the reputation of the company. Take the PC version of Bioshock, the implementation of DRM and the install limit did nothing to stop pirates and only went to hurt the consumbers. Pirates will always find a way around it, so damaging your rep by using methods that only serve to annoy the people who are actually buying your game is counter-productive, not to mention a waste of money. These pirates wouldn't buy the game anyway, but I bet there were a few people who actually decided NOT to buy the PC version of Bioshock because of how terrible it's anti-piracy system was.

  • legice

    Posted May 8, 2008 1:28 pm PT

    the best sounds are when he is speaking in his own languaga(and cursing in ti)It's really nice for a change,that you understand a foregin language(not english),that is rarely in games.You have no idea,what they are saying,(I can)....and it's just f**king awsome and so funny.
    GTA:4 4 life

  • Somebody89

    Posted May 8, 2008 1:27 pm PT

    Why are people saying PS3 FTW? I wonder if they forgot that there was an Xbox 360 version released as well? Also another thing since this is also on 360 then that will help Microsoft like Halo 3 did so I don't know why people are whining about how Halo's record was broken. It was gonna happen sometime.

  • Phazevariance

    Posted May 8, 2008 1:05 pm PT

    I'd say the best part is the sound NIKO makes when he is flying through the windshield. AHHHHHH

  • Kcube

    Posted May 8, 2008 1:01 pm PT

    the best part of GTA4 to me is car jacking and then slamming into another car at top speed and watching the passenger go smashing to thier death ^_^

  • ShadowOfKratos

    Posted May 8, 2008 12:50 pm PT

    and I'm not even picking sides here...

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