impressive

May this not be because the PS3 version is in SHORT supply in europe, i didn't get mine (i live in Sweden though) and i preordered 3 weeks ago..

Hmm. How do you go "hurrah" in The Queen's English? "Here Here!"? "Tally ho!"? Uh, anyways, yeah, way to go England!

Interesting that the game sold more copies than Halo 3. I wonder how GTA4 will compare saleswise in the US and Japan.

@Salen: It's the UK, not Engmand, they aint the same thing.

/disgruntlednorthernirelandukperson

@Cruithne:
I'm pretty sure it's the UK (;

Microsoft has had a nice healthy "360 CAN PLAY GTA 4 AND STARTS AT JUST £160! OH LORD PLEASE BUY ME!" TV campaign for the last few weeks here in the UK.

@Cruithne: Oh. Sorry. I get that stuff mixed up. That would explain why the friends of the family my dad has who are from Ireland don't like the BBC.

I can say that the 360 is also in short suppy in UK, I have been playing the AUS version and waiting on my UK one to turn up and I just got a e-mail saying that they are out of copies and will send it out soon....... so go figure.

Niko sure has been busting some moves with Microsoft on television in the UK lately. Glad to see everyone does well with it

The game sold out on both platforms, so the sales figures just reflect the number of copies that were available.

So neither 360 or PS3 fans can claim that their version is in higher demand. That sort of gloating will have to wait.

RIGHT!
The PS3-Version ist outsold completely in Germany, while the X360-version is still available everywhere.
This comparison is completely meaningless.

@Cruithne: ...and I'm pretty sure it's England not 'Engmand'.

On topic: Those numbers are shockingly ridiculous. Fairplay.

R* be kings, they deserve it an' ting.

Well go fuck a fiddle stick. Microsoft pulled a one up from their asses. Now if they can get their console to sell as well as gta4 then they would be makin some profit. but in other words ps3 is still better there and always will be.

/american rant

@Nebur: Not my fault there's no edit function.

Sony is doomed!!! Meeeh.. I'm still getting a PS3 in June.

Anyway, it's like the game itself, a success for both consoles. On the one hand the PS3 can boast healthy sales, despite no DLC, on the other hand, Microsoft have a more than fair chance of recouping their investment in DLC with those types of sales figures.

@Cruithne:
jk =D

Seen?

Wow.

I really thought the 360 version would outsell the PS3 version by a much bigger margin than that. Considering the 360 has a wider install base plus the fact there has been next to no advertising for the PS3 version but loads of ads and publicity for GTA on the 360.

@Nebur: Sorry mate, it's often hard to tell from the written word alone which tone someone is using when making a comment.

I wasn't being too serious either.

1 million more 360's and all the UK TV advertising and that's the margin in Microsoft's best European territory?

The rest of Europe should narrow this considerably.

I don't call a 61,000 difference in sales figures - a 20% margin - a "slight" amount. I take issue with that comment.

Also, I am from the US, but I was under the impression that the 360 wasn't doing well in Europe. Now that the 360 did better on day 1 I keep hearing that the 360 has a larger install base in Europe. Which one is it?

None of this really matters. Selling more on day 1 doesn't mean you will have sold more at the end of the game's lifespan or that it is a better game than the version on the other console. That said, I find it annoying when someone with an agenda mischaracterizes a story by claiming a 20% difference in sales is a "slight" difference.

@ReignFury:
Yes,I would have thought it would have been a lot more too.The bigger install base due to the big headstart the 360 had in Europe. Still good numbers for both though.

@bneals:
The 360 has about a million or more sales lead over the PS3 in the UK.So,yes a 60k difference isn't as large as many would think it would be.

@Darkedge: Most impressive...

@enewtabie: I disagree, 20% is a huge margin in any environment ... in politics, over 10% is usually determined to be a solid trouncing, and a 20% defeat is a landslide.

We're looking at this like a popularity contest, so we should accept the numbers as such. For the game's launch, the 360 trounced the PS3.

@ReignFury: Don't know which country you're in, but in Oz all I've seen are PS3 ads for the game. I even heard one announcer on a breakfast show this morning say that it was "only on PS3" (shame on you, Paul Murray of Triple M!).

@bneals: XBOX has a higher base in the UK than in the rest of Europe who pretty much hate microsoft nearly as much as Japan does.

The UK market is probably the largest in europe for MS and at the moment its still ahead of Sony, but analysts expect sony to catch up soon.

It's wrong to include the UK in with Europe as our interests are entirely different theirs.

Alot of Brits class themselves as just that and not European. We're an Island and aside from tossing our hats into a couple of wars and sharing a few policies we dont have a great deal in common with Europe.

Its also wrong to Call the UK England as its not. England is part of the United Kingdom which inludes England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland.

The UK is Different from Great Britain which is just England, Wales & Scotland. Thats why at the olympics its "Great Britan & Northern Ireland" why they dont just say the UK is beyond me but nevermind.

@jayntampa:
What would you expect?The 360 should be doing this or better,right? I guess I didn't expect the PS3 to be as close as it is,especially with such a larger install base that the 360 has.

and if videogames were politics,I would be anywhere near involved with it..lol

*..argh,..wouldn't :)

Surprising. I thought the PS3 owned Europe, these days.

Congrats Rockstar!

UK IS NOT EUROPE
@ScottG13:

I am amazed they even bothered advertising, it's not like anyone didn't know it was coming.

The UK has a poulation of 61 million or so, Europe has a population of almost 500 million or so.
How many times do we need to pointhis out?
Overall the PS3 is doing better in Europe than the Xbox, but in one part of Europe the Xbox is doing better than the PS3.

@Luke Plunkett

"..this game is some steamy, hot hot hot hotcakes"

I'm surprised you didn't end the pun in "coffee"

@ Thermopylae

Congrats to you for having the patience to deal with bneals' ignorance of the world. I find it hard when someone like him shoots their mouth off about things they know nothing about. Where I come from, we have a saying that if you don't know what you are talking about, keep your mouth shut. This would go for the other people who group Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland into England. It's just as insulting to say that Canada and Mexico are part of the US or that New Zealand is part of Australia.

On topic, I would see a 20% lead as extremely disappointing for MS since they have so many more 360's installed in that sales area.

Personally, I don't focus too much on numbers but the game is freakin' awesome on either console - I love the freedom and the amount of detail to be found in all areas of the game.

It comes as no surprise that this will outsell Halo 3 as it is in a completely different league. Halo 3 is for the tweens who don't care about old rehashed storylines while GTAIV has quality in all areas for everyone. It has been a long time since I agreed on a 10/10 rating but this one here definitely deserves it.

-1 from those 360 totals because my mail order didn't turn up so I had to buy one from a shop on the way home from work.

Incidentally, the shop (GAME in the Bullring if anyone cares) was literally swimming in copies-- I was worried it was going to be a sell-out before hand.

haha so much for the idiots claiming a PS3 victory. 360 wins as expected. PS3 online issues and frozen systems

@Cruithne: Ah sure do you want to be lumped in with them anyway? No offense if you do....

@Thermopylae: Yes, we are. Deal with it. The British Isles are part of the European continent, are European culturally, are European legally, and the UK is a central member of the European Union.

@emeraldgsl:
your fanboy is showing...haven't played the PS3 version yet,but my 360 copy is having issues too.Slowdown,cutscenes locking up.The game isn't perfect.

@PJK: Heh, to be honest, I'm happy to be called European, I'm a Brit who lives in France.

Is the the right place to say that, while the game is without a doubt absolutely fecking awesome, what I'm STILL waiting for from GTA is where, instead of maxing the complexity of the models and environments, they use low detail models but then draw THOUSANDS of them?

I want to chase people through genuinely PACKED streets! Imagine hundreds of commuters ducking and scattering at the sounds of gunfire! Imagine escaping on foot through a gridlocked central city street! Imagine a whole organised march or rally turning on you because you've tried to drive over hundreds of people in a bin lorry full of explosives! Bring it on...

In my part of London, and I'm not far off the major central shopping areas, the game is completely sold out and online as well for the 360.

Another big up for Euroland from a Brit.

Personally,anybody who thought the PS3 copy would sell more is not well informed.Do the math. With MS,larger lead out(bigger install base)there was no way mathematically,that Sony would beat that. I think what they are saying is that it's surprising,given the numbers of consoles that MS has over Sony in the UK that it is so close this early.

Well done fellow Brits. I got it on launch day at around 2pm from Curry's. It was their very last copy for the 360, but they reportedly ordered more copies for the Xbox360, which is probably why they were already out of PS3 versions. I only know about four people in my town with PS3's, so yeah. Woolworths and Blockbuster were all sold out, too!

I actually borrowed the money to buy the game - it turns out though, that my stepdad bought two copies. One for him, and one for me to pay him back for at a later date! So he ended up giving that to my sister, and we all have copies! It's a very GTA-heavy house at the moment. ;)

@Ska-Chan:

Well, it's multi GTA households like you that make it impossible for the rest of us to get a copy.

*sulk*

considering that the 360 has been out so much longer than the PS3 I'd say that the PS3 sales are pretty strong as well.