GTA IV Drives Xbox 360 Console Sales Up 54%, Breaks Live Records

Microsoft sales data for the past week shows consoles sales for the Xbox 360 rising 54% week-over-week at retail, primarily driven by the multi-platform launch of Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto IV, according to a report from gaming site Gamerscore blog. This news follows Take-Two’s announcement yesterday that Grand Theft Auto IV’s launch broke worldwide entertainment records, generating $500 million in revenue with 6 million units sold in a single week. The release also broke almost all day-one and first-week sales records in the UK. Retailers are reporting that more than 60% of GTA IV copies sold in the last week were the Xbox 360 version, with the PlayStation 3 version accounting for the remaining copies sold. Strong attach rates were also reported -- approximately 40% of new consoles sold were purchased with a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. According to Microsoft’s data, over 2.3 million people have played the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV on Xbox Live and one million concurrent played over the weekend, making GTA IV the most played game on the online service. Grand Theft Auto IV has also set a record for average time played, with the average gamer playing the game for over four hours in the past week. Gamers have unlocked over 12 million achievements worth over 100 million gamerscore points in the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV.