Which format sold more?
According to reports from ELSPA, the Entertainment Leisure Software Publishers’ Association, Grand Theft Auto IV has beaten the previous sales record set by GTA: San Andreas in 2004.Rockstar Game's latest title, which was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 on April 29, has sold 609,000 units in the UK in the first 24 hours, comfortably beating the previous record of 501,000 units.
Furthermore, we now know that the Xbox 360 version sold more units than the PS3 version, beating the record previously set by Halo 3, with 335K units shifted in the first 24 hours. The PS3 version sold 274K.
All in all, it was a great day at the office.
“The scale of GTA’s day one sales are phenomenal and reflect a vibrant market which continues to grow. Gamers are from all age groups and demographics with estimates putting the total number of people in the UK who enjoy games at over 20 million,” said ELSPA managing director, Mike Rawlinson.
Second Shot
Nick Haywood writes:We're also receiving reports that GTA IV is driving a surge in PS3 sales as desperate gamers, finding GTA IV is out of stock on the Xbox 360, are buying PS3s just to play GTA IV.
It would appear that Rockstar have timed the release of GTA IV perfectly. There's nothing else major launching in the next few weeks and consumers have pretty much recovered from the Christmas over-spend... leaving them spare cash on pay day to splash on a PS3 if they can't get the Xbox 360 version.
In calls to Game and Gamestation, it would appear that stock issues up and down the country vary greatly with some stores reporting plenty of stock while others sold out on launch day. Speaking to ASDA, who are saying an error led to some stores selling GTA IV a day early, the Walmart-owned superstore chain are saying there's been an increase in PS3 sales since the game launched.
Similarly, Tescos are reporting several instances of desperate gamers buying PS3s specifically to play GTA IV.
Interestingly, Game are reporting that the limited edition GTA IV pack is in stock in many stores, perhaps an indication that many gamers were holding off buying a PS3 until the 'must have' game hit?
