Mafia 3 Ships 4.5 Million Copies in First Week, Setting New Launch Record for 2K

Mafia III shipped 4.5 million copies in its first week, representing a new record for 2K Games. Parent publisher Take-Two shared this information with The Washington Post today. Shipped refers to copies sold to retailers, but not necessarily through to consumers. A sold-through number for Mafia III was not shared.

4.5 million copies shipped in a week makes Mafia III the "fastest-selling title in 2K Games's history," surpassing records set by 2K's other big-name franchises like Borderlands, BioShock, and NBA 2K.

Take-Two's other internal division, Rockstar Games, publishes franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead. Though a unit sales number wasn't shared, Take-Two announced in September 2013 that Grand Theft Auto V made $800 million its its first 24 hours.

Take-Two will report earnings for its latest quarter later today, at which time the company may share more details about the performance of Mafia III and its other games. Check back soon for more.

Also in the Washington Post's story, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed that, early on in Mafia III's development, there were discussions about main character Lincoln Clay's racial identity and questions about if the team wanted to go down the path it did. However, this quickly shifted into talk about how to genuinely capture the 1960s without being "exploitative or preachy," Zelnick explained.

"It's tough to take on a subject material like this and treat it realistically and sensitively," he explained. "We have to be sure not to put our words in the character's mouths, but to make sure the words belong in the mouths of the characters."

For more on Mafia III, check out GameSpot's review.