Grand Theft Auto IV set to break record

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 5/1/2008

MAY 1 | No numbers have been released yet, but by all indications Grand Theft Auto IV will make history as the biggest launch of an entertainment property when publisher Take-Two Interactive discloses sales, as it is expected to do later this week or early next.

Retailers held midnight openings Monday night, drawing lines of anxious gamers, and reported strong first-day sales of the carjacking game.

Best Buy opened 100 stores at midnight and continued to see lines to buy the game the next morning, a spokeswoman said. The company said stores were busy but declined to discuss sales.

Blockbuster, which announced earlier in the week that it had added videogame software and hardware sales to all of its corporate-owned stores, also saw brisk business.

“It was the largest launch day for an individual game title we’ve ever had at Blockbuster,” a spokeswoman said.

The chain held midnight openings at some stores and gave away a piece of framed GTA art to lure in gamers.

The highly anticipated game is expected to also drive sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the two platforms for which it is being released.

Amazon.com was offering $30 off the Xbox 360 console with the purchase of GTA IV. The retailer set up a Grand Theft Auto store on its site. The game was one of the top-seller’s on Amazon’s videogame chart Wednesday but not ahead of the Wii Fit, due out May 21.

The week’s other big release, Mario Kart Wii, which streeted Sunday, was just behind GTA on Amazon sales charts.

Still, Mario isn’t expected to come near GTA sales. Analysts have predicted GTA IV will generate $400 million in first-week sales, besting Microsoft’s Halo 3, which set a launch record last year with first-week sales topping $300 million.

Take-Two has already said that 6 million pre-orders were placed on GTA IV, which would put pre-order revenue on the $60 game at $360 million.

Analysts expect Take-Two to sell through 12 million units of GTA IV this year, making it the biggest release in the series and topping the 9.3 million units sold of previous release, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

GTA IV has been called the best in the series and received stellar reviews, with the New York Times calling it a “violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun.”

Best Buy and other stores said they were being careful to make sure the M-rated game didn’t get into the hands of minors. Wal-Mart released a statement Tuesday about its “mature merchandising” policy, basically saying it carries M-rated games and has programmed cash registers to require an ID when an M-rated game is sold.

The controversial game franchise has generated warnings from legislators and others who have objected to its violent content and used it to seek legislation regulating videogame sales.

Take-Two, meanwhile, has used the game to drive a better deal for itself in a takeover bid by Electronic Arts. Take-Two rejected a $2 billion takeover offer from EA, saying the price is too low. Take-Two said it would wait for the release of GTA IV before beginning talks with EA.