NEW YORK - Grand Theft Auto IV raked in more than $500 million in its first week in stores, selling more than 6 million units worldwide, the video game's publisher said yesterday.
The highly anticipated title from
The title sold about 3.6 million units on April 29, its opening day, bringing in roughly $310 million. This is $10 million more than what
The game has lifted sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and
Without giving numbers, Microsoft said Xbox 360 sales jumped 54 percent in the week following the title's launch, compared with the prior week, and more than 2.3 million people played it on its Xbox Live online service.
"Retailers say roughly four out of every 10 Xbox 360 consoles sold also included the sale of a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management at Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.
Sony spokeswoman Laura Bakken said the company's 10 largest retailers have "all seen a pretty substantial lift" in PS3 sales, but she did not give specifics.
New York-based Take-Two is the subject of a $2 billion hostile buyout from larger rival
Take-Two's shares were recently trading at $26.26, above EA's tender offer of $25.74 per share, which expires May 16. Unless EA is willing to offer more, it seems "increasingly possible" the acquisition attempt could unravel, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said.
Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter disagrees, however, saying the game's sales were well within his expectations.
"I don't think it changes the value of the company," he said. "I think we are going to end up with a Microsoft-
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