industry news
NYT: GTA IV's Sold 6 Million Copies, Made $US 500 Million
Posted by Luke Plunkett at 8:40 PM on May 7, 2008
The New York Times, who seem to have got hold of Take-Two's data a little earlier than the rest of us, are reporting that the publisher's going to announce some hard GTA IV sales figures later today. Those figures will reveal the game has already sold 6 million copies, with an astonishing 3.6 million of them going on the first day. This means the game's racked up sales of over $US 500 million in just one week. Hoo-boy. If the NYT are on the money, expect Take-Two to confirm this later today.
A $500 Million Week for Grand Theft Auto [New York Times]

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Magnum_PI
Posted 9:21 PM 7/5/08
I think it's safe to say there will be a GTA V or at the very least a GTA: Vice City, San Andreas type game using the technology from this one.......can't wait either which way.
Magnum_PI
Grinman
Posted 9:20 PM 7/5/08
Well generally, good games sell a lot. Did anyone NOT expect figures like that?
Grinman
Balance_In_Life (PSN)
Posted 9:20 PM 7/5/08
So now that this happened there is really no way EA can buy Take Two at the moment correct?
Balance_In_Life (PSN)
Fyren
Posted 9:18 PM 7/5/08
Yup. Its always nice when your numbers are 20% higher then the already projected behemoth.
The shareholders got their insurance, TT just gained a million+ worth of sheeps.
Fyren
hamandcheeseUK
Posted 9:18 PM 7/5/08
2 of those sales were by me.
I personally think San Andreas was the peak of the series, with this not being as good. But still... not being as good as "absolutely amazing" can still mean it is amazing
hamandcheeseUK
Waldo2129
Posted 9:18 PM 7/5/08
@monorailcat: Agreed. They did an excellent job once again and they deserve it!
Waldo2129
Br00klyn-Grenade
Posted 9:17 PM 7/5/08
Numbers don't lie...
Br00klyn-Grenade
Mienvard
Posted 9:15 PM 7/5/08
[www.20minutos.es]
"Phew"
Mienvard
monorailcat
Posted 9:13 PM 7/5/08
Well, that game deserves every single sale it gets, it's easiliy the best British game I have ever played, and one of my favourite (if not my absolute favourite) games of all time.
monorailcat
phatseejay
Posted 9:13 PM 7/5/08
A game worthy of such achievement. Kudos to Rock*. Can't wait to see a comparison of all time greatest release sales.
phatseejay
MasterDex
Posted 9:12 PM 7/5/08
GTAIV could very well become the best selling game of all time.
@Salen: Yeah, let's hope they do that and blow EA back into little bits.
MasterDex
Flawless101
Posted 9:12 PM 7/5/08
This is what happens when a good game is mixed with hype to the right level! I can't remember the last time (In the UK) that I saw adverts for a game plastered everywhere!
Flawless101
Peter-Moore
Posted 9:11 PM 7/5/08
@ca$h yeah its grown, I remember when this was all fields.
Peter-Moore
Salen
Posted 9:02 PM 7/5/08
Yeah, and with all that money, TT can build a fort out of dollar bills to fend off that take over bid from EA. They'll probably make cannon balls out of big bundles of coins.
Salen
cloudtm2
Posted 9:02 PM 7/5/08
Congrats to them for achieving such an accomplishment. Now if only my ps3 hadn't fried up while playing it. Just three more weeks till I get it back from Sony and its back to playing it again (At least till MGS4 comes out)
cloudtm2
holytramp
Posted 9:02 PM 7/5/08
Dammmmnnnn!
Yup, nothing else to say but... Dammmmnnnn!
holytramp
geoffcbassett
Posted 8:59 PM 7/5/08
Your going DOWN movie industry.
geoffcbassett
DaftDethMonkey
Posted 8:57 PM 7/5/08
And its worth every damn cent.
DaftDethMonkey
108
Posted 8:56 PM 7/5/08
Good on them!
Let's, uhh, see someone else out there try to top that.
. . . . . . Seriously. Other developers need to stop sitting around in awe of GTA and get to fighting it already.
108
Luke Plunkett
Posted 8:55 PM 7/5/08
@otimus: It kicks both their asses.
Luke Plunkett
axiom
Posted 8:52 PM 7/5/08
So when can we expect GTA V?
axiom
otimus
Posted 8:51 PM 7/5/08
How does this compare to Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3's release day and first week? Anyone know?
otimus
PAULINK
Posted 8:51 PM 7/5/08
Being a multi platform game, these are still huge numbers. Way to go, Rockstar.
PAULINK
Snuffbox
Posted 8:50 PM 7/5/08
Straight cash homie
Strauss Zelnick will be makin it rain later tonight, better grab an umbrella
Snuffbox
Northernsky
Posted 8:49 PM 7/5/08
Wow... good going, Rockstar.
Northernsky
Luke Plunkett
Posted 8:49 PM 7/5/08
@Lateralus63: 3.6 million in ONE DAY? Is there a word BEYOND insane?
Luke Plunkett
Luuey
Posted 8:49 PM 7/5/08
Chump change
Luuey
ca$h
Posted 8:47 PM 7/5/08
Half a billion dollars in one week? For a single video game?! That just simply blows my mind. Our little industry has grown so much.
ca$h
Sigma-D
Posted 8:46 PM 7/5/08
Spend that money wisely, Rockstar!
Sigma-D
Lateralus63
Posted 8:44 PM 7/5/08
That is insane.
Lateralus63
Gwydeon
Posted 9:36 PM 7/5/08
How are they averaging $83.33 a sale?
Gwydeon
Manny
Posted 9:28 PM 7/5/08
@Magnum_PI: They need to fix some of the plot holes in IV before they more on. I hoping the DLC will add more story and wrap things up.
Manny
FranUnFine
Posted 9:27 PM 7/5/08
Congrats, and well deserved. I wasn't really hyped, bought the game on a whim, and I'm really pleased with it.
So, are those 500 million qualifying as goo-gobs already?
FranUnFine
Zero_
Posted 9:24 PM 7/5/08
3.6 million.... in 1 day? Holy cow...
Zero_
Pinhead
Posted 9:59 PM 7/5/08
They're gonna have to build a bigger money bin.
Pinhead
KM91
Posted 9:56 PM 7/5/08
eaking of printing money...
KM91
vig0r
Posted 9:53 PM 7/5/08
@vig0r: I was talking to someone next me and that is why that comment was epic lamure,I want every single employee of rockstar to go and buy themselves a ferrari after this,then put a console in the back and go around letting people play gta iv :d,only problem is ferraris dont have back seats ;O
vig0r
edhe (xbl)
Posted 9:51 PM 7/5/08
@Gwydeon: Other countries have higher prices.
@Cruithne: It's not on PC is it..
edhe (xbl)
vig0r
Posted 9:51 PM 7/5/08
haha everyone at rockstar must be smiling their asses off right now,half a billion dollars is quite alot of money :D
vig0r
jonesjohnson
Posted 9:48 PM 7/5/08
@Gwydeon:
Regular and special editions?
jonesjohnson
lammy742
Posted 9:46 PM 7/5/08
@Gwydeon: Maybe lots of people are buying the special edition? I did.
lammy742
ittekimasu
Posted 9:45 PM 7/5/08
and the amount of imports would've helped spike that sale data as well right?
ittekimasu
BlackDove
Posted 9:45 PM 7/5/08
Europe.
It's $100 and more here.
BlackDove
Cruithne
Posted 9:44 PM 7/5/08
Can someone explain to me once more how piracy harms sales?
Cruithne
Starsky
Posted 10:15 PM 7/5/08
The split between PS3 and 360 would also have been interesting.
Starsky
Cruithne
Posted 10:13 PM 7/5/08
@edhe (xbl): No, but copies of the game hit the interwebs days before general release, leading to much wailing and gnashing of teeth here in Kotaku about piracy damaging the industry.
Cruithne
Rolandd
Posted 10:46 PM 7/5/08
We are giving away one copy of the new GTA IV for people who vote on our poll ([pollsb.com]) as a registered user
Rolandd
coalhalo
Posted 10:27 PM 7/5/08
Rockstar should feel pretty good right about now. The success of GTAIV vindicates the GTA series and nothing shuts up critics like mountains of cash,
coalhalo
vanderblade
Posted 11:23 PM 7/5/08
I need to play more of this game. Been taking it easy the last few days. Wanking off and the like. Just finishing up the semester. Next week I'll be all over this. One last thing: there is absolutely no way I'd give this game a 10. I'm leaning toward a solid 9, perhaps a 9.5, if I had a few.
vanderblade
kylenalepa
Posted 11:17 PM 7/5/08
Nice job, Rockstar. Nice job. I agree with Darth Navster, though: get working on a sequel to Bully!
kylenalepa
Darth Navster
Posted 11:07 PM 7/5/08
Alright Rockstar, now you have cash. Use it to make a Bully sequel. Bully 2 running on the RAGE engine would be epic!
Darth Navster
excel_excel
Posted 11:07 PM 7/5/08
@KM91: speaking of printing money? Exactly! Dear god these numbers are INSANE!! Within one week, ONE WEEK, dear god, the money spent on the game is easy to see, the production values are through the roof, of course the game itself is the most fun I've had with a game since Super Mario Galaxy, plus the story, THE STORY!! Niko Bellic maybe the greatest character ever
@BlackDove: Costs 60 euro for the normal edition here
excel_excel
munchausen
Posted 11:05 PM 7/5/08
so, how much longer until us cheapies can pick this up as a PS3 greatest hit? 18 months?
munchausen
Blake Ruff
Posted 11:02 PM 7/5/08
This means that it outsold Halo 3 right? If it does, that's all I care about.
Blake Ruff
DorkimusPrime
Posted 11:40 PM 7/5/08
@Gwydeon: That's what I'm trying to figure out...even if it IS $100 in Europe, that means that 60% or more of the sales were outside the US and in territories where the game averaged $100USD.
DorkimusPrime
Grive
Posted 11:36 PM 7/5/08
@hamandcheeseUK: Heh, I actually feel the opposite - I saw San Andreas as a low point. Maybe it was too much nonsense added on top of the GTAness of it, and now it's been toned down in the fourth iteration to a more comfortable level.
Grive
EthanW
Posted 11:30 PM 7/5/08
@otimus:
All via Wiki.
Halo 3 grossed US$300 million in its first week. The largest opening of any media, even more than Spiderman 3 the movie.
Before Call of Duty 4 was released, it was predicted to sell even more copies than the highly successful Halo 3; it had received as high reviews as Halo 3, it was launching on three systems as opposed to one for Halo 3, and demand for the game led to a wide-range of retailers only having enough available to satisfy pre-orders.[67] It fulfilled the prediction and became the top-selling game for the Xbox 360 from November 2007 to January 2008. It sold 1.57 million units in November 2007,[13] and 1.5 million units in December.[14] It was also the top-selling game for January 2008, selling 331,000 copies for the Xbox 360 and 140,000 copies for the PlayStation 3.[15] As of January 2008, Call of Duty 4 has sold more than seven million copies worldwide, and was the best-selling game of 2007.[16]
Call of Duty 4 is a target of piracy, which may affect the game's sales. One of the game's developers stated, "We pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer [...] What wasn't fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen / cracked CD keys of pirated copies."
EthanW
Al Bino
Posted 12:05 AM 8/5/08
The special edition of GTA IV would cost about 145$ over here in Switzerland and the normal one about 95$ - but you would leave out the different economies among other things.
Most things are quite expensive over here, cities like Zürich and Geneva are known to be some of the most expensive ones in the world, but in the end we can afford it to buy such expensive games because of our higher salaries (and because we're paying this prices ever since the 80ies and 90ies) - but as I already wrote it everything's very expensive here if you compare our prizes to those in other countries. Take a normal sized menu over at McDonalds, I don't know much it costs in the States, but here you're paying about 11$.
With this said I congratulate Rockstar for this giant success, this is even more than the analysts predicted if I'm right.
Al Bino
PogiJet
Posted 11:54 PM 7/5/08
I can see a new GTA San Andreas with a complete makeover in 3 years. (GTA:SA was set in 1992 assuming the new SA is set in the present)
PogiJet
SwindleUK
Posted 12:32 AM 8/5/08
@edhe (xbl): PC=piracy but i wish i told my dad to put the mortgage into TT shares.
SwindleUK
Itchy (PSN: Kaizoku-ou)
Posted 12:30 AM 8/5/08
@Lixie: No. It's called SPARTAAAAAAAAA!!
Itchy (PSN: Kaizoku-ou)
SaintEmpire
Posted 12:25 AM 8/5/08
Achievement Unlocked.
SaintEmpire
Lixie
Posted 12:19 AM 8/5/08
@Luke Plunkett: Yes, Busey.
Lixie
CubemonkeyNYC
Posted 1:00 AM 8/5/08
@ca$h:
When you think about it, 3.6MM copies is far fewer 'units' sold than for a big summer blockbuster, which will sell 10MM+ tickets.
$10 for a 2hr movie vs. $60 for a 40hr game. This market is only going to get bigger.
CubemonkeyNYC
Gray665
Posted 12:53 AM 8/5/08
If ever there was a game that deserved the success it is achieving, its this one. Seriously, its easily in my top 5 games played EVER, if not #1, and this is coming from a guy who never played the other GTA games for more than an hour or 2. I've played this one 30+ hours in a week.
Gray665
BlackDove
Posted 12:52 AM 8/5/08
@excel_excel:
60 Euro isn't 60 Dollars.
A mistake most people make.
BlackDove
phicaluk
Posted 12:45 AM 8/5/08
@DorkimusPrime:
I know, it's crazy, it's almost as if most of the world's population didn't live in the USA or something.
Makes me proud that a game produced here in Scotland can sell these sorts of numbers.
phicaluk
Hylian
Posted 1:43 AM 8/5/08
Back off EA.
Hylian
OzymandiasX
Posted 3:03 AM 8/5/08
[www.pretentiousgamer.com]
That's 40 billion Microsoft points!
OzymandiasX
SpishackCola
Posted 3:25 AM 8/5/08
Even though I was just making up numbers to show an example in a previous EA/T2 post I totally called 6 million copies in one week.
[kotaku.com]
SpishackCola
Antiterra
Posted 3:17 AM 8/5/08
Has anything, and I mean anything in the history of entertainment ever made this much money, this fast?
And how do you beat that? 'Cause the day they invent a bigger hype machine than GTA IV's, that machine will rebel and destroy humanity.
(After spending 18+ hours on the game, I still think that the global community of reviewers had a Kool-Aid drinking binge for awarding it such high scores, but it's still a pretty awesome game.)
Antiterra
Gwydeon
Posted 3:45 AM 8/5/08
@SaintEmpire: That comment is full of Win.
Gwydeon
Zinv
Posted 2:09 AM 9/5/08
Now the CEO's of Rockstart can finally complete their life long goals of driving solid gold yachts through seas of cash
Zinv
deon845
Posted 10:21 AM 8/5/08
wow nice spend rockstar games!!!
deon845
MegamanX
Posted 2:31 AM 8/5/08
Just wondering - how much did they invest in the production of the game? Also how much for the printing of materials, packaging, etc? I know the 500 million isn't pure profit.
MegamanX