Xboxist

Take Two: 10 Million Copies of GTA IV Sold

Take-Two Interactive Software has released its third quarter financial results for the three-month period ended July 31, reporting net revenue of USD 433.8 million, up from USD 206.4 year-on-year. Take-Two attributed much of its success to sales of Grand Theft Auto IV, Top Spin 3 and Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution.

Grand Theft Auto IV was the diamond in Take Two’s tiara last quarter, moving 10 million units at retail as of August 16. Grand Theft Auto IV has a ways to go to become the highest-selling game in the history of the franchise. The current reigning champion, San Andreas, has sold about 21 million copies combined on the PC, PS2 and Xbox platforms, with Vice City selling 17 million and GTA III selling 14 million, respectively.

However, not everything is rosy for Take Two as they struggle to convince Electronic Arts that its earlier bid to take over the company was undervalued. According to analyst Michael Patcher, the chance of GTA IV achieving major additional sales is limited by the consistent attachment rate of the game, which limits future sales of the software. “The game's early penetration rate (around 30 per cent of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 installed base) is likely to limit future sales to a similar percentage of steady (though lacklustre) PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware sales,” he told journalists this week.

Despite future sales being intimately tied to growth on the hardware side, we believe that GTA IV has a strong chance of selling 21 million units to rival San Andreas as the strongest-selling game in the series. With the latest Xbox 360 price drop, upcoming DLC, and announced PC version, many gamers are likely to take a trip back to Liberty City this coming year.

[Via: Press Release, Gamesindustry.biz]