GTA IV on 360 outsells PS3 in US 2-to-1

By Robert Purchese Published 13 May, 2008

With more 360s sold, is the gap big enough?

US retailer GameStop has revealed that 64 percent of its Grand Theft Auto IV sales were for Xbox 360.

The figures were given to Newsweek blog Level Up, and show Microsoft with a near two-to-one lead over its rival.

But despite the initial reaction, these results actually point to GTA IV under-performing on Xbox 360, Newsweek reckons.

You see, at the end of March this year, Microsoft had sold 9.9 million consoles in the US and Sony had sold 4.1 million PS3 units. That's a split of 70.7 percent to 29.3 percent.

Compare that to the 64 percent to 36 percent GTA IV sales split and, relatively, it shows the PS3 actually over-achieving.

However, the full US story will not be known until the end of April when the official NPD figures are released.

Here in the UK, the gap between the Xbox 360 and PS3 sales of GTA IV widened this week, rising from 55 percent to 62 percent in Microsoft's favour.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (62) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MikeP #1 4 years ago

    This comment thread is now closed, thanks for taking part!

    /crosses fingers

  • Uncle_Fishboy #2 4 years ago

    NO ONE CARES

  • M83J01P97 #3 4 years ago

    Couldn't all this GTA4 sales news be saved and put into one big handy topic at the end of each week or something? Daily doses is getting a little bit tedious...

  • Xerx3s #4 4 years ago

    "NO ONE CARES"

    Irony.

  • Putty-Man #5 4 years ago

    But whats the comparison of GTA IV on Angolian PS3's versus Kazacstany 360's? Eh eh, yis dont know that one do yis!

  • StanleyPointLarge #6 4 years ago

    Can we stop this 'news' pls, i really don't care any more and didn't much care in the first place.

    The install base of 360 was higher than ps3 anyway.

  • Quint2020 #7 4 years ago

    Fanboys!! ....... CHAAARRRRGE!!!!

  • Skooch #8 4 years ago

    FFS, it can STOP now!

    You can argue this until the cows come home (and the fanboys certainly will) but article after article on sales figures is boring - especially when each console has basically sold equivalent to its market share.

  • Skooch #9 4 years ago

    Breaking news! Game sells volumes roughly equivalent to the respective console's market share - my my!

  • tobsen #10 4 years ago

    This is getting ridiculous. Why is EG even bringing this kind of irrelevant news EVERY SINGLE DAY? This site feels more and more like an Microsoft PR mouthpiece.

  • rob230 #11 4 years ago

    Slow news day huh EG?

  • The-Bodybuilder #12 4 years ago

    I can't see MS caring. Can you?

  • sanctusmortis #13 4 years ago

    Can I just say, as a voice of REASON, that it's likely that more people who own a PS3 will be interested in playing such a game, due to the higher hardware price point translating to an older average user?

  • Gaol #14 4 years ago

    Normally I would agree Vercetti but these updates are becoming tragic and just dilute real news, hence why most users are just voicing displeasure now.

  • BlueDot #15 4 years ago

    Surely you meant the end of May, rather than April.

  • The-Bodybuilder #16 4 years ago

    >"This is getting ridiculous. Why is EG even bringing this kind of irrelevant news EVERY SINGLE DAY?W"

    Hits my good man, hits.
    Let's be honest here, much as EG derails fanboys, it's fanboys that usually increased the number of hits on the site, which in turn they can show advertisers to show how successful they are, so they can stump up more cash. Heck it was the original halo review (and influx of fanboys, both sony and MS) that made EG uber-popular.

    I mean, stevie wonder can see such "news" cause nothing but flames, yet EG keeps making them. Why? There can only be one answer.

  • Mr_Dodger #17 4 years ago

    Strange how the majority of the "this is boring" etc crowd seem to be PS3 owners.

  • BarcaAzul #18 4 years ago

    Been trying to get a copy on the PS3 since launch.

    The guy getting me a copy in the UK said that there were 360 copies available, but none for PS3, which would suggest that there were more 360 copies available, which makes sense as there are more 360's than PS3's in the UK to date.

    Its completely irrelevant though on 2 weeks sales!!

    Probably the drop in sales is also due to lack of copies on both formats as well.

  • Mr_Dodger #19 4 years ago

    @ Mr_Dodger : maybe because they're not 12 year olds

    Your argument presumably being that they are more mature and therefore express that maturity by incessantly posting in threads that have no interest to them just to make a point. Gotcha.

    PS - I see, egster, that you also seem to be a PS2/PS3 owner.... interesting.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 12:44

  • login_name #20 4 years ago

    if u dont care, dont post.. people posting stuff like that is worse than the fanboys who DO care and talk shit about it. or worse people who say "ohh wait till the fanboys get a hold of this" utter fannies!! if u dont have anything to say about the topic - fanboyish or not - shut your faces! DICKHEADS!

    You might wanna take your own advice there.

  • Weezer #21 4 years ago

    "NO ONE SHOULD CARE"

    Fixed

    (EDIT: Typographical inconsistencies)
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 12:50

  • crisotunity #22 4 years ago

    This "news item" appeared on Joystiq or Kotaku yesterday with a health warning (ie, this is only reflecting initial numbers from a single -albeit very important- retailer).

    Eurogamer, managed to (babel-)translate the American-English into English-English adding their own pinch of sensationalism. This is not a sign that Eurogamer is in Microsoft's pocket but -unfortunately- it is a sign that the site is becoming more downmarket and will do anything for a few hits. Shame, because it used to provide a witty and intelligent read (which is the reason I bothered to comment).

  • drumbaby #23 4 years ago

    It should have outsold it 4:1 with the higher Xbox 360 installed base, being on home soil, the lower console price, and the much touted DLC.

    So....not very spectacular news for Msoft at all, is it?

  • miiiguel #24 4 years ago

    Maybe, just maybe..., this is getting too far, but, I think most of this was due to the pre-PS3 debut where allover the place everyone was saying PS3 would be that "oh so much better" - do a google search and the comments and press releases comenting the PS3 "to be - but never was" are just hilarious.

    We should move on though, we got the picture by now.

    drumbaby, if you compare San And's numbers and 4's ones, you could say... yes, they are allowed to be dancing the hoola-hup.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 13:01

  • NoQuarter #25 4 years ago

    It's quite obvious that the first people who buy your system probably buy the most games, the late-adopter casual crowd will of course be less likely to spend money on every new game.

    I wouldn't say MS lost, they did make more money, obviously.

    It does make you wonder about all the stories in the week before GTAIV's release with analysts predicting the PS3 version would sell better, win the battle, etc. They did get it rather wrong, you have to wonder who they are and why we're even supposed to listen to them.

  • superdelphinus #26 4 years ago

    11% of statistics....etc

  • Olemak #27 4 years ago

    This is surprising how? What idiot expected GTA IV on PS3 to outsell the xbox version at launch?

    What is mildly ineresting, it Newsweeks observation that PS3 is performing better than the market share should indicate.

    The reason for this (I believe) is a sharp rise in PS3 units sold, bundled with GTA IV. The numbers will thell an intersting story.

    Oh - and GTA IV for PS3 is still sold out across the board here in Norway. So that seems to indicate that the PS3 is outselling the Xbox verion here in Scandinavia at least, but I guess that was unsurprising. And hardly newsworthy.

  • Ryze #28 4 years ago

    Unless they want more kids to play it, they should be satisfied.

  • miiiguel #29 4 years ago

    A dolar is a dolar...

  • imamazed #30 4 years ago

    hmmm....

    Most posts relating to these news articles are actually people saying "fanboys are a-comin'"

    It seems to me a lot of people are insinuating that to prefer a console is to be a fanboy; which is ridiculous. Yes there a few people who makes useless biased comments, but many people make worthwhile points in a console's favour and are immediately labelled "F4nb01!!!!"

    Agreed that it shouldn't be updated every day though :D

  • woodnotes #31 4 years ago

    "What is mildly ineresting, it Newsweeks observation that PS3 is performing better than the market share should indicate. "

    Tis a bit silly to compare ratios.

    If we look back to last generation, GTA 3 sold better on Xbox than it did on PS2 if we look at it that way. Nobody kept going on and on about install base last generation.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 13:37

  • WinstonChurchill #32 4 years ago

    And how much is a dollar?

  • number9 #33 4 years ago

    Has Eurogamer been bought by MS or something?

    Questions :
    1. Why does EUROgamer publish UK sales figures?
    2. Why does EUROgamer publish USA sales figures?
    3. Why does EUROgamer NOT publish European sales figures?

    Answers :
    1. GTA4 360 is selling better in the UK. 60% to 40% apparently.
    2. GTA4 360 is selling better in the US. 2 to 1 apparently.
    3. GTA4 PS3 is selling better in all of Europe. 0.9M to 1.3M during the first week.

    I find it strange that a site like EUROgamer never talks about the third fact.

    You should change your name to MSgamer.co.uk. Eurogamer.net is misleading IMHO.

  • number9 #34 4 years ago

    VGchartz.com has european figures. Of course they are not "official", but again, I don't think they are any less accurate or biased than those provided by MS themselves, and EG have no problems publishing those every day.
    Official retailer data are favorable to the PS3 at least in France, Italy and Spain.
    Why publish only UK and US? I would understand that both in a US or UK site. But man, they call themselves Eurogamer and the O of the name even contains a map of Europe!

  • Psychotext #35 4 years ago

    @number9: VGChartz numbers are pulled out of thin air. Base anything but a bit of fun on them and you're making a mistake. (if you want proof, look at their US numbers for April and then compare them to the NPDs when they get released)

    On the subject in general:

    Why are people talking about percentages of users buying the games? How many percent of the PS2 userbase bought San Andreas at launch? It's meaningless... because as a system grows in sales it inevitably starts to attract gamers with different preferences and reduces the percentage of owners who are hardcore gamers.

    Take for example the first week of San Andreas in the US. There were roughly 28m PS2 owners at that point and the game sold 2m units in the first week (7% of owners bought the game). Compare the PS3 in the UK with 1.2m owners and GTA IV selling 0.41m in the first week (34% of owners bought the game). Don't you think that speaks volumes about what an enlarged / more varied userbase does?

    These things aren't linear, and there's a reason the PS2 doesn't have an attach rate of something like 20+ games.

  • muscleblade #36 4 years ago

    "Strange how the majority of the "this is boring" etc crowd seem to be PS3 owners"

    Indeed, lol.

  • Mr_Brown #37 4 years ago

    Is the gap big enough? What do you mean by that? Does it mean that Microsoft will go bankrupt and be forced out the console market if Sony catch up with them? Are Sony in trouble of going out of business because competitors are selling more than them?

    I'll answer all those questions. No they are not. So long has each company are recording a profit, thats all that matters. Who is making the biggest profit, is just inter company pissing competition and has very little to do with gamers. All companies are doing well, thats all that matters to us. End.

  • muscleblade #38 4 years ago

    "Has Eurogamer been bought by MS or something? "

    If you honestly believe that - your kind of stupid. No offense though.

  • muscleblade #39 4 years ago

    "They must be idiots to purchase more of the version that is selling less...or? "

    The PS3 is selling more than the 360 in Norway so thats the reason.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 14:39

  • miiiguel #40 4 years ago

    oh ffs..., can we stop with the pathetic spins already? Now it's the "attach rate" that matters, or "in Scandinavia"; or "in this Swedish site"..., I mean..., shit, it sold more on 360, get over it, no big deal.
    It's no reason to be cranky. The games incredible, MS did what they had to do to put their machine on GTA's radar, they worked hard - they are working hard..., I think it's just honest to admit. Sony took too much for grant, and I bet they will do things diferently from PS4 on.

    Price cut did wonders tough, yes it did.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 14:37

  • GamesConnoisseur #41 4 years ago

    Seem to me that reliable European stats (software and hardware) are harder to get compared to US and UK? If that is not the case then please add link so that Eurogamer.net have no excuse but to use them as correctly pointed out the name is Eurogamer!

    However if its bears out that due to diversity and complexity of Europe, EG rarely in position to get stats for Europe wide data, then we need to accept that bias are just apparent and not intended.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 14:36

  • number9 #42 4 years ago

    @muscleblade

    Only a moron would take the comment on MS buying EG literally. But anyway, you can still try to answer the question on why Eurogamer publishes all but european figures.

    Also, the IQ argument against PS3 buyers is so flawed. It can easily be used against xbox360 owners, or even Wii owners by just changing the ps3 disadvantages by those of the other systems.



  • anomagnus #43 4 years ago

    i think we can assume my xbox penis is bigger than your ps3 penis

    lets move on

  • Darren #44 4 years ago

    @muscleblade - And what if you wanted the PS3 to watch Blu-ray movies on or play MotorStorm, Resistance FoM, Ratchet & Clank ToD, Unreal Tournament III, MLB 08 The Show, Uncharted, GT5 Prologue or the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 and Wipeout HD... does that make you stupid too? :p

    Seriously though, there's nothing at all stupid about buying any console because no one system allows you to play all the great games that invariably come out for them so if you stick with one then you'll miss out on all the classics on the rival systems. It's the reason I've always been and always will be a multiformat console owner; it means I have the best of all worlds! If you ask me, provided you have the means obviously, it's stupid NOT to own all the consoles... :)

  • Psychotext #45 4 years ago

    @GamesConnoisseur: Yeah, the only way you're getting European hardware / software numbers is if you pay for them from Chart Track / GFK or a manufacturer chooses to include them in a press release. That's why Eurogamer rarely posts them as news.

  • t8yman #46 4 years ago

    "hey advertisers, look how many hits we get"

    "wow, you must be a real informative and interesting website"

    "no, we just post flamebait now, and wait for the hits to come"

  • zedzee #47 4 years ago

    @ Putty Man:

    Personally, I'm more interested in the sales of GTA-IV in Mongolia versus Benin!

  • number9 #48 4 years ago

    @Psychotext

    I don't understand why UK figures are easier to get than, say, Germany or France.

  • miiiguel #49 4 years ago

    I don't buy *all* the consoles because I don't have the time to play *all* the 360 games I want to (proprely). Guess, if I opted for a PS3 (read, had it debuted 1st) things could be diferent.

  • Psychotext #50 4 years ago

    number9: Because Chart Track sometimes puts them on their website when showing how new releases are doing. They also sometimes show hardware ratios (but rarely actual numbers). People pay money for this information so they aren't in too much of a hurry to give it out for free.

  • the_genius #51 4 years ago

    Seems over for the 360. I guess it had an ok run.

  • miiiguel #52 4 years ago

    boy_genius: your coments do go well with your name, it has that conceptual irony "je ne sais quois"... . Brilliant.

  • Madlax #53 4 years ago

    No surprise in here, Game sold well according to the install base of each system.

    If anything, i think the PS3 did very well, a 64% to 36% split ratio [translates into 1.7:1] in the US, the region where its most hated, it actually managed to compete with the 360 in its Home-turf, even though it has less than half the user-base.

    The PS3 version will still pull ahead overall in Europe [except the UK], and in Japan, so each system gets a part of the pie.



  • miiiguel #54 4 years ago

    You thought otherwise though, previously. Wishfull thinking I presume.

  • NickD7 #55 4 years ago

    In my street the 360 version of GTA IV sold more than the PS3 version...

    Quick Eurogamer make a front page article about it, throw in a pair of boxing gloves and the words console warz to multiply your hits by TIMES 10!!!

    sad indeed.

  • number9 #56 4 years ago

    @Psychotext

    Thanks

  • Madlax #57 4 years ago

    "You thought otherwise though, previously. Wishfull thinking I presume."

    ?

    Can you elaborate ?

    I dont recall i ever mentioned that the PS3 version would outsell the 360 one in the US, i also never expect the PS3 to pull ahead the 360 in the US, there is something other than 'good games' that makes US customers buy that thing even after the RRoD 'fiasco', something the foreign PS3 doesnt have,

    and its probably the same reason why a japanese man doesnt want to be caught with the 'Gaijen-Box' in his house. ;)




  • smelly #58 4 years ago

    LMAO at all the people saying "i dont care".. but yet they cared enough to post in the comments thread.

  • smelly #59 4 years ago

    @MadLax : I agree with you.

    Once the mgs 4 bundle gets released next month the ps3 will almost definately outsell the 360.

    And at that point microsoft will anounce the xbox 3 .. mark my wurds..

  • muscleblade #60 4 years ago

    @Darren

    Your right, i was kind of joking. Im a former owner of both platforms and i personally didnt find a good reason to keep my PS3. As Miguel said i dont have time to play all the 360 games i want to. The Blue ray is a good argument though. I can afford all the games and consoles i would ever need ( i own two 360s and over 50 retail games). I just need the best one with the best games though and that is without any doubth the 360. I have a very expensive but also very good looking Blue Ray player btw i actually just bought it.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 16:49

  • cyber_nicco #61 4 years ago

    "However, the full US story will not be known until the end of April when the official NPD figures are released."

    What? It's May 13th for fuck's sake...

  • cyber_nicco #62 4 years ago

    Actually, compared to a lot of predictions, this is a big deal.

    Wasn't some Gartner asshole talking about how much better it would sell on the PS3 just in the last couple of weeks?

  • alpha-0ne #63 4 years ago

    Take2 are sure glad they decided to bring gta4 to the 360, great decision 4 years ago