That's a lot of hookers getting beat up!

Wow!

No surprise, but still great news for the industry. Gaming pwns recession!

I own both consoles and bought GTA IV for the great Xbox360. Cannot wait for the exclusive DLC!!

I don't care what EA says, I don't think anyone was expecting 500 Million the first week.

Since it's for a single platform the Halo 3 sales are still impressive. I mean it made more than half as much on a smaller install base.

@LosDaddie: Indeed, before playing the game I didn't give two hoots about the DLC, but since playing it I can see how it'd make a big difference

The real question now is what this record breaking, Halo 3-smashing game will do to the EA/Take-Two talks.

Kill them in the face, I presume?

@Figcoinc: Pfft, I've put a good 20 hours into the game and have yet to beat a hooker.

Awesome, now the whole world knows how many people love to steal & murder.

Does it seem to anybody else that GTA IV plays more like the Godfather game than the previous GTA games? (Cover mechanics, fine tune aiming, no loads for interiors, NYC boroughs...)

@agies: Besides the combined hype and advertising for Halo 3 far surpassed GTAIV. I think one of the biggest factors behind the sales here is how good of a game Grand Theft Auto IV really is.

This game truly does raise the bar in many areas of video gaming. Hats off Rockstar (not you Take Two), the praise is well deserved :D

Wow.

@FranUnFine: Actually, I'm going go to out and say that it's not going to do much.

GTA IV is a singular game. They pull in 3/4 of a billion, maybe a billion, one quarter, so what?

It's not going to be that big of a deal for EA or the Take-2 shareholders. They make that money, and then continually lose money the next quarters. People aren't going to care that they're a one-trick poney. They're going to want results and profits. And EA can offer them that.

@unicronband: It also plays a lot like Saints Row, but that is a good thing. I can only assume that games like Saints Row, The Godfather, and Resident Evil 4 helped Rockstar refine GTAIV into what it is.

More importantly, what will this news do to the Houser brothers' bank accounts? :)

Damn those are HUGE numbers o_0 I helped a bit on tuesday, lol.

You guys are paying 83$ for your games? Yikes!

With that many sales? DLC for both platforms is kinda unavoidable. D:

@DarkNight_DS: some are $100 in the UK

I understand the numbers of GTA IV, but how come no one really takes into account that Halo 3 was ONLY available for the 360 while GTA IV had ability to sell to both PS3 and 360.

My special edition cost me £70 $140 in the UK. We love it.

@Figcoinc: I haven't beat a hooker yet, but I ran one over with my car. That counts, right?

That's a lot of money, especially in a crap economy.

But will half-a-billion cover costs? Just the cost of gas to power Nikko's many cars must be near that. ;)

@fatheadwilson: I haven't even met a hooker yet. o.0

Or maybe it's like a few weeks ago IRL, where I thought that all the girls dressed the same way on the street where belonging to some kind of gang and were wearing uniform...

@mcrproductions: It's funny how that works. for the next GTA, they need to rip off Assassins Creed's parkour mechanics or Crackdown's Superman jumping ability. I will say I'm a little disappointed in GTA IV's minimal Z-axis movement.

I hope this doesn't distract T2 shareholders from the fact that their board is shady. Remember those extra raises and stock options pre-GTA4? Don't forget!

@lionkitten:
Dan Houser estimated that is cost somewhere in the region of $100M to produce.

I think they'll be ok :p

@unicronband: I actually prefer the fact that GTA is somewhat grounded in reality when it comes to vaulting buildings or scaling skyscrapers like a monkey. It makes Niko seem that much more tangible.

"We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player's experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas."

shutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUP

I can't fucking stand press releases.

Although GTA IV trumps Halo's first week sales, you have to figure that Halo was only released on one console.

Taking into account the fact that Halo 3 was an exclusive game , a $300 million launch is still pretty damn impressive.

But I give props to Take-Two, GTA IV is amazing.

Considering San Andreas sold something like, 20 million(?), it's sure to keep selling for a long time, but I think the big numbers are over.
Downloadable content should be a great opportunity considering the number of copies already sold.

Have they adjusted for $, €, £, ... ?

@KaneRobot: I hate press releases too but I have to agree with that statement. If R* North wants to toot their own horn I'm willing to give them a pass on this one cause the game really is that good.

Good for them, now how about some details on that DLC? hmm?

For a second I thought you meant that it had sold half a billion copies.

It's funny how GTA4 seems to be the only game that truly lives up to it's hype. I've heard people say how Halo 3 was great, but not perfect, how Brawl's single palyer campaign was horrible, but GTA4 is actually doing amazing. I havent heard so much as one major flaw in the game at all. If there is, it's probably minimal compared to other games.

@exkon: Calm down fanboy, it has been mentioned several times in comments. Mainstream media on the other hand dosen't care about that. They just compare #s no matter if they are a little skewed or not. I will bet just about anything tho, if you take out the PS3 sales it still smashes your precious H3.

@TheSonicGamer:

My only complaint is that its kind of buggy and the AI is still an issue as with all GTA games. But with the scope of the game, the storyline, the animation, the graphics, the gameplay and level of detail put into the game its just a small complaint that can be lookd over but still lives up to the hype.

@TheSonicGamer: QFT! I was surprised when I played it that it really does live up to the hype... Only downside is that the next GTA can't live up to the same hype purely because the first game achieved so much and there's a limit to what the consoles can do without a hard drive install.

I'm praying the next game is enforced hard drive install! Even then though, all I really hope for is an expansion/prequel like the other 5 GTA3 games released.

"and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date."

I really wish gaming publishers would stop bringing up this pointless comparison. Your game costs $60 minimum. Someone can see a movie or buy a CD for under $15, and more people saw Iron Man opening weekend than bought GTAIV by far. Apples and oranges.

@TheSonicGamer: You couldn't be more right. I bought an Elite for Halo 3 when it was launched and was a little pissed that is was not *that* much better than 2. The graphics were sharper and gameplay seemed smoother but it wasn't a 'leap forward'. GTA4 IS a leap forward and a groundbreaking title as where H3 is nothing more than a glorified expansion pack. I put it next to RB6V2 at this point.

.00009% of that would pay off my student loans.

Take Two, have a heart.

I thought a billion was a million millions...

The game deserves it. The "fun factor" is sky high. I load the game and just ride around the city and I'm very content. Money well spent.

I agree. Halo 3 was severely lacking for me. GTAIV has its flaws, but they are easily forgotten while having so much damn fun.

@Tetelestia: I am in the same boat as you, gotta start paying in november. Please Take-Two, help us out.

@-MoarPlz-: not in America, though england is even slowly moving toward having it at a thousand millions

So much money and they still couldn't print enough PS3 copy's!

Extremely impressive figures, to be sure. I have to point out though that it took a multi-platform game to topple the previous record holder. I'm not saying this out of fanboyism, but rather to put things into perspective. Is anything going to be able to beat out GTAIV's launch now? Probably not any time soon, and certainly not any game released on just one platform. Also makes me wonder whether R* will even be able to top itself.

Regardless, it's releases like this that prove just how viable gaming has become as a form of mainstream media/entertainment, which is something for all of us to be excited about. Hopefully we'll continue to see more growth in this respect.

@-MoarPlz-:

lol.

And how many sales will they lose in the second week thanks to people selling the game used after realizing the reviews were over-the-top to the point of being criminal (30 perfect 10 reviews at gamerankings? Really?). Mine's up over at eBay for $47.99 as I type and it's one of many (I was shocked it's already down to $48 bucks. It usually takes a month to drop that far in the used market.). It's not a horrible game, but it is the most overrated game ever released. Come on Rock* -- you still couldn't find a way to add halfway points in missions so we don't have to play through entire missions a second time when the game glitches?

@agies: yea but the PS3 version of GTA4 out sold Halo 3's day one sale and it had to compete with the 360 taking away some of their sales due to people not crossing over or simply buying a 360 instead of PS3 for the game, without real numbers just gonna guess that it was a 50/50 spit so PS3 version got 3million in 7 days, Halo 3 did 3.3mil in 12 days

@ghnvt: I know guys! Like, money is so awesome. I wish I had more. I identify with that! Thanks for the helpful post that could've better been summed up by saying "I like money."

Awesome, they're of the few teams that have worked hard to give us good games that really take advantage of this gens hardware. I was really hoping MGS4 would be the one to trump Halo 3's release but what the hell.
An important question I think is, what does Jack think about this sales, and now that we're at it, what does he think about the game, I think we all remember that mugshot (EDIT pic) of him with the game.

Amazing! This is a huge accomplishment. These numbers absolutely destroy any previous records by ANY movie or game. Deservedly so, the game is amazing. I'm hovering around 50% completion, something like 25 hours played and I'm loving every minute of it.

Huge props to Rockstar, I don't see this release being topped anytime soon. Maybe GTA5 in 2012? ;P

But is there a a game on "ONE" console to match Halo 3 sales. Remember, GTA IV is multiplatform so of course it got to half billion very quickly. that about 250 million for each console.

I've been playing GTA IV for a few days now. I agree that it's technologically impressive. But as a game, I just don't find it that great. Sure there's a lot to do, but it does nothing well. Forza 2 drives better than GTA, Gears has a better cover system, Halo3 plays better as shooters, Mass Effect has better story, etc. I just don't get why the sum of all these inferior parts make up something much greater.

@xXSlayer77Xx: There are obviously way more sales of GTA4 for the Xbox360 than PS3. I'd guess that at least 65% of the sales were for the 360. That said, it still beats Halo :P.

500 million smackers- WOW! Think of how many 10/10 reviews I could buy with that.

Can someone ban anybody who decides that "LOL MONEY" and other forms of that post are necessary to any discussion?