Infogrames shares get Driver 3 boost

Despite receiving mixed reviews, both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Driver 3 have debuted at the top of their respective sales charts in the UK. Released across Europe on June 22, the game also claimed the number one spot on Chart-Track's "All Software" chart, which had previously been held by Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.

As first reported by Reuters, the strong sales of Driver 3 saw shares in Infogrames rising in value by as much as 4 percent earlier today before settling at 2.27 euros ($2.76), which represents a one-day rise of 3.65 percent. Since the UK accounts for around 40 percent of the European games market, the success of Driver 3 there, according to one analyst, suggests that Infogrames will most likely end up selling all of the 2.5 million copies of the game that were shipped to retailers worldwide for launch.

Infogrames hasn't officially announced its sales or preorder targets for Driver 3, but it has suggested that the game could represent 15 percent of annual sales--a figure that, according to analysts' estimates, would be equivalent to between 3 and 4 million units.