GTAIV breaks records, $500 million first week sales
by Dustin Burg 
{ May 7th 2008 at 10:45AM }
Holy record breaking Grand Theft Auto IV sales Rockstar! We knew GTAIV would be a sales behemoth, but never did we think it would rack up hundreds of million dollars in sales its first week on U.S. shelves. But that's exactly what it did.Rockstar and Take-Two just announced that U.S. GTAIV sales reached $500 million in sales the first week, which means 6 million copies were purchased from retailers nationwide. GTAIV also shattered Halo 3's $170 million twenty-four hour sales record, ringing up some $310 million in sales on April 29th alone. We guarantee it's all smiles over at the offices of Take-Two and Rockstar, though truckloads of cash tend to do that to a person.
[Thanks, PrivateBurke]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
D Boy Flex @ May 7th 2008 10:55AM
I love it. Worth every penny for the Special edition. Good game. Hopefully the DLC will rock. Maybe they will beat any record in that area too. I believe COD 4 maps did quite well, so maybe that is a goal to beat. I am loving the game and have a ton still to do with about 20 hrs racked in on single player.
xenocidic @ May 7th 2008 1:43PM
Those folks that tendered their shares to EA must feel like true jackasses now.
(Yes, I'm abusing the reply-to-first-post technique)
bigmac375 @ May 7th 2008 5:42PM
it is an effective technique, but i would never do such a thing. _>
J @ May 7th 2008 11:00AM
Halo 3 was only on 1 system so it's not really a fair comparison but still.. that's pretty incredible.
emirabal @ May 7th 2008 2:02PM
No, its still a holy s**t moment, 170 x 2 would be 340 so it would have been in second (assuming that they sold equal on both systems which we know they didnt) but thats still crazy. No one is ever gonna come close to that, not even gears, and i love gears but its not gonna sell like that on the first night, it might do a little under Halo the first night, bc i can see the fanboys standing outside for it (cough cough), but wow, that pretty much somes thatup perfectly
WOW!!!!
Josh @ May 7th 2008 11:01AM
The only problem is that these stats are for both the ps3 and 360 combined. So I don't count it as beating H3 unless I see just the 360 sales or just the PS3 sales. So to me, no single console record as been broken until I get individual console facts. You may want to put an edit up just to clarify this is for both 360 and PS3 combined.
D Boy Flex @ May 7th 2008 11:07AM
I vaguely remember reading that GTA 360 did beat H3 sales in the UK, at least for first day sales. In that post, GTA did in fact beat H3 in the UK. I can't say for the rest of the world, but either way, it is close. Also, I wonder how H3 would have done if it had gone cross platform. I mean, if it was also released on PS3, would it have done this good? I doubt it cause all of the people who want H3 have a 360, and any real PS3 Fanboy would not have boughten it just out of spite or whatever (I had many friends go out and buy a 360 just for H3, and to date that is all they play). Anyways, both games did well. I personally enjoy GTA much more than H3. I like CoD4 more than H3. I dunno. H2 kinda broke all the new territory for me and H3 was more of an expansion pack to it, IMO.
buff0x @ May 7th 2008 12:02PM
People who are into games would of bought a 360 for Halo 3, people who are not fussed about the game at all would of gone for console of preference, had GTA4 been a 360 only game, It still would of hit these sales figures due to people buying into the 360 for this game.
Same way as I will be buying my PS3 when MGS comes around.
Malfoy Roark @ May 7th 2008 12:24PM
Do you really think 50% of the sales went to PS3? I mean really? I think its safe to say GTA put a cap in halo3s crown. It'll be ok.
Boff @ May 7th 2008 11:02AM
I think we all KNEW this was going to happen!!
Do you have figures/amounts for the 360 version?
How'd it do in Europe/UK?
TORO @ May 7th 2008 12:48PM
UK info:
"The Xbox 360™ version of “Grand Theft Auto IV” has sold more than 100,000 copies, or 20%, more than the PLAYSTATION 3 version in the UK since the game’s release last Tuesday, 29th April. "
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/16439/UK-GTA-IV-on-Xbox-360-Outsells-PS3-Version/
Rick @ May 7th 2008 11:06AM
Maybe someone should set up a toll-free hotline for Halo 3 crybabies.
Josh @ May 7th 2008 11:10AM
or we can just see the 360 sales, so that we can know the facts, I have no doubt that GTA sold more, I would just like to see the numbers. But then there are people like you who most likely will try to bash H3 at any chance you get.
Frank @ May 7th 2008 12:25PM
Who cares about the facts?
For christs sake, it's a video game, it's not like we're waiting for data about whether or not global warming exists.
The "fact" is that GTAIV has the best opening week sales in the history of interactive media. End of discussion.
Stop bowing to Master Cheif... Niko Bellic is your god now.
Vcize @ May 7th 2008 2:38PM
If any hotline is going to be set up it should be one for all the artards that take every chance they can get to bash Halo 3 so we don't have to weed through their crap anymore in any blog entry that mentions Halo in any offshoot sideways manner.
I don't even like Halo 3 that much, I played it for about two months and it was a fun ride but not cracking anywhere near my all-time favorite games list. But FFS it gets old weeding through all the "HAY GUYS IM INTERNET COOL BECUZ I DONT LIKE TEH HALOZ LOLZIES!!!!!!!11111".
You don't like it. We get it, and nobody cares. Just get the fuck over it already.
erivera3 @ May 7th 2008 4:01PM
Seriously, when did it become cool to hate on Halo 3 so much? Just because it is incredibly popular people start bashing on it just like everything else in this world. Grow up, enjoy what you want to enjoy, let others do the same.
Rick @ May 7th 2008 4:05PM
Do you Halo 3 guys whine this much when you play the game, too? You might want to grow a thicker skin or put some panties on.
ZEBRA NINER @ May 7th 2008 11:07AM
Nice. It's still selling like hotcakes. My GF went to buy a copy from Worst Buy yesterday, and they were all sold out! The store employee said they didn't expect any until Friday, and they wouldn't last long once they hit the shelves. She was able to get a copy at Walmart.
TORO @ May 7th 2008 11:09AM
Cool dude! My girl has been playing single player a lot I think she's hooked lol...
ZEBRA NINER @ May 7th 2008 11:15AM
Yeah, she's supposed to be getting her Xbox back from repairs Thursday, so she went out to buy the game last night. I don't know if anything can pull her away from COD, but I guess this might be it.
TORO @ May 7th 2008 12:19PM
Lol true dat...doesn't mean we still can't throw it down in COD ;)
TORO @ May 7th 2008 11:08AM
Awesome!
Well, if 55% of those sales were 360, then it would beat Halo 3. I'm pretty sure the 360 user base is more than 55%, probably close to 60/40 ratio...
Tony @ May 7th 2008 11:48AM
MS was claiming early on that the sales were 2:1 in favor of the 360. If that held up worldwide over the entire week, I have no idea.
TORO @ May 7th 2008 12:17PM
Even better =D
Deck @ May 7th 2008 11:11AM
Madness I tell ya, Madness! But it is worth every penny, damn good game!
Garrett @ May 7th 2008 12:29PM
Is there any way we can get our hands on system-specific sales figures. I'm interested in seeing how the Halo 3 sales stack up directly to the 360 GTA IV sales.
The Mighty Ant @ May 7th 2008 12:18PM
Who cares what the ratio of sales between 360 and ps3 besides shareholders and the companies. Records are meant to be broken! I wonder what the next game will be that breaks this record? Hmmmm...Ghostbusters? =)
Frank @ May 7th 2008 12:27PM
correction: "Chief"
And for the record I played all the Halo's, I thought they were swell at the time, but GTA IV is the new gold standard.
Procris @ May 7th 2008 2:47PM
I'm pretty sure the press release says its $500 million globally, not just US.
Josh @ May 7th 2008 4:29PM
Man, you can't even say anything good about H3 anymore, if you guys actually read what I posted, I said that I know that most likely GTA4 passed H3 sales and that I just wanted to see individual numbers. I also wasn't going to automatically say that GTA passed it because I didn't have straight facts yet on numbers. Then you have idiotic people who come in and automatically make it sound like I'm not giving GTA4 the credit it deserved. No doubt its a fun game, all I wanted to see was 360 sales and thats it. But people decide to turn it into a bash H3 thing. I just want numbers thats it, so get it through your thick brainless skulls.
Rick @ May 7th 2008 7:38PM
YAWN.
Josh @ May 7th 2008 8:50PM
As you can see then, we have immature people like Rick who are either A) A fanboy or B) just brainless. I could say that GTA is the best game ever and he would still have a lame comment to bash me about something. But of course he's probably a little kid that doesn't get attention and uses the internet to make him feel like a Man, when in reality he couldn't win a fight if the other guy was dead. Anyways, I feel bad about arguing over the internet, because it is so pointless. Back on topic though, does anyone have the percentages of which is for 360 and which is for PS3.