In the first week of sale, Grand Theft Auto IV has continued to push the boundaries of computer and video games sales, with figures by Chart Track suggesting more than 926,000 copies sold in the first week.  This has earned the creator (Rockstar) an estimated £39.9million – or rather almost $80million dollars.

This is a number that easily dwarves the previous best selling game ever (yes, it was another Rockstar game), GTA: San Andreas.  This was way back in 2004, showing how keen the players of the game are.  Take Two (the owners of Rockstar) are expected to give a press announcement sometime in the next couple of weeks revealing that the game has sold more than six million copies in the first week alone.  Simply staggering.

Apparently, sales were corrected for the first day at the figure of 631,000 – almost as much as GTA: San Andreas sold in the first week.  There was a fairly even split between the two consoles on which the game is available, with a slightly higher market share (55%) going to the Xbox 360.  What this really shows is that a good game on either format will sell.

Unsurprisingly, the game has managed to boost the level of sales for the consoles themselves.  They were up about 125% on the usual levels of sales, proving that a good game will push people to own a console where they wouldn’t have before.  Of course, Grand Theft Auto is a unique gaming proposition – few other games allow you to do what you do, when you want to do whilst having more fun than playing most other games combined.

The reason for that of course is the sheer variety of gameplay on offer.  Whilst at times you might be taking cover and sniping, other moments you’ll be stealing a car or evading cops.  Frankly I can’t wait for my game to arrive and I’m sure that it is something that is very special indeed.

Related posts:

GTA for the DS coming this March
GTA IV Leaked?
GTA IV gets trophies
The History of Grand Theft Auto
Halo 2 – $5.2 million per hour

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