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Grand Theft Auto IV Breaks Worldwide Entertainment Records
by David Jenkins
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May 7, 2008
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Officials from Take-Two Interactive, owners of Rockstar Games, have revealed details of the worldwide launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, claiming it to be the biggest entertainment launch in history – including video games, cinema and music.
Released in the U.S. and Europe on Tuesday, April 29th the company claims the game has already sold 6 million copies globally, generating more than $500 million in revenues in a single week. On its first day on sale, the game sold approximately 3.6 million units worldwide, for revenues of around $310 million.
Detailed data has already been released concerning the game’s success in the UK, where it has broken almost all day one and first week sales records.
"We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player's experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two.
“Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well. Grand Theft Auto IV's first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date. We congratulate the entire Rockstar team on creating a must-have experience that takes the legendary Grand Theft Auto franchise to a new level," he added.
Some previous estimates of the game's success had suggested first week revenues of $400 million and 6 million sales at retail. Although the unit sale prediction is identical to Take-Two’s final figure there is no explanation for the disparity in revenues – which may be due to currency fluctuations, different regional splits, or higher than expected sales of the special edition version.
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$500,000,000 / 6,000,000 = $83.33 / copy.
$310,000,000 / 3,600,000 = $86.11 / copy.
Sure, the special edition is $90, but the regular is only $60. Are four out of five buyers getting the special edition? I think not.
If one out of five were the special edition, that'd be $66 / copy. $66 x 6,000,000 = $396,000,000, which is what they estimated. So where'd that extra $200 million come from?
Does anyone else think those numbers are a bit fishy?
We don't need any more conspiracies, we're gonna have enough with this game as it is. lol
The numbers for the UK were posted yesterday:
$78.1 mil / 924,000 = $84.52 / copy which is within your range of price per copy.
Using www.amazon.de as a european price point, and google for exchange rate, we see that it costs about $105 for the standard version of GTAIV between Xbox360 and PS3.
Now plug in some ballpark numbers for North American and European sells, and you'll see that the numbers actually do add up.
Here games are sold by the twice of the american price...
Example: I saw some "hit" old games being sold on america for 19 USD (niiiice), but here for 40 USD (not nice...) This example includes GTA 3 (bizarrely launched here officially AND NOT localizated, only on 2006)
People who want the game, but are not so fussed at getting it on launch day are probably not going to be buying the special edition.
And yes, USA has cheap games compared to most countries in the world. I believe GTAIV normal edition is $100AUD here in australia which is $94USD