Microsoft: Xbox 360 captures 60 percent of GTAIV sales

Following the launch of Take-Two and Rockstar Games' critically lauded Grand Theft Auto IV on April 29, the question on many industry watchers' minds was just how well the heavily anticipated game performed and whether it lived up to its heady expectations. Take-Two kept the stats-hungry mob on edge a full week after, saying just yesterday that the game nailed its reported 6 million sales prediction, generating $500 million in week-one revenue.

While Take-Two kept the industry waiting, Sony, which sponsored a portion of the advertising spots for the game, chimed in a full week prior to extol the game's as-yet-unconfirmed performance. In a congratulatory statement bereft of any hard details, the PlayStation maker said GTAIV "drove sales of the PlayStation 3 entertainment system within the first 24 hours," and not much else.

It now appears that the reason for Sony's ambiguity was that the majority of consumers opted to pick up GTAIV on Microsoft's console. Today on Microsoft's marketing-team-operated GamerScoreBlog, the publisher dished on the stats breakdown for the 6 million copies of the game sold in its first week at market.

"According to retailers, more than 60 percent of all GTA games sold in the first week were the Xbox 360 version," the publisher's marketing team wrote on its blog. Sony had not responded to queries for comment on this claim as of press time. According to the hardware maker's most recent numbers, the Xbox 360's global installed base stands at 19 million, with the PlayStation 3 trailing at 13 million.

Microsoft also said that GTAIV has caused sales of its console to spike 54 percent week-over-week and that retailers' data indicates the game is attaching to new console purchases at a rate of 40 percent. GTAIV has also proven to be a hit with online gamers, as the publisher noted earlier this week that the game had unseated Activision's Call of Duty 4 as the top Xbox Live title for the week.