It was the craziest launch yet in the history of interactive entertainment, that's for sure
Microsoft is already giddy over the release of Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360, and for the time being their console's version of Rockstar and Take-Two's blockbuster action adventure appears to be enjoying greater success than the PlayStation 3 edition. GTA IV thus far has sold 6 million units worldwide for some massive damage, netting some $500 million USD in sales; first day sales alone were 3.6 million units. That's well over Take-Two's original estimate of $400M USD, and certainly a new record for the gaming industry. U.K. sales figures were already posted here, and are included in Take-Two's report.
Approximately 60 percent of all GTA IV sales during launch week were for the Xbox 360 version, according to data culled by Microsoft. Additionally, the game's launch last week helped push 360 console sales in the U.S. up by 54 percent compared to previous weeks, and over 40 percent of new 360 consoles were purchased alongside a fresh copy of GTA IV.
We already know that GTA IV is the hottest game on Xbox Live, and Microsoft is ready to share the stats to back this. Over 2.3 million Xbox 360 gamers have played the game over Xbox Live since its release last week; XBL saw the patronage of around one million concurrent users over the past weekend. XBL gamers have played GTA IV online for an average of four hours per session, setting another XBL record for the most time played. In total, Xbox 360 gamers have unlocked over 12 million achievements (worth over 100 million gamerscore points) in GTA IV.