Microsoft claims GTA victory in US, too

By Tom Bramwell Published 8 May, 2008

"More than 60 percent" of sales were 360.

Microsoft representatives are citing retailer reports that over 60 percent of GTA IV copies sold in the US are Xbox 360 versions.

Gamerscoreblog, run by Microsoft staff and citing "data from the US team", wrote, "According to retailers more than 60% of all GTA games sold in the first week were the Xbox 360 version."

The site also says that Xbox 360 hardware sales rose 54 percent week-on-week, while 40 percent of new consoles sold were bought along with a copy of the game.

The stats come a day after Microsoft declared victory in Europe, citing Chart-Track's reports that 100,000 or so more copies of GTA IV were sold on 360 than on the rival PS3.

Gamerscoreblog also reels off some Xbox 360-specific gameplay stats, revealing that 2.3 million people went online with GTA IV in week one, over 12 million GTA IV Achievements have been unlocked (for over 100 million Gamerscore points), and that the average gamer spent more than four hours playing it while hooked up to Xbox Live in week one, which is a new record.

All of this helped Xbox Live achieve 1 million concurrent users over the weekend, and unsurprisingly this has propelled GTA IV to the top of the Xbox Live gameplay charts, finally toppling Call of Duty 4.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (54) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Xerx3s #1 4 years ago

    Oh dear.

    /opens umbrella

  • aldo_14 #2 4 years ago

    Gil from the Simpsons, anyone?

  • CreepinJesus #3 4 years ago

    Good to see those young American kids are finally out getting some exercise... by carrying a 360 home.

  • Darren #4 4 years ago

    Microsoft and Sony do like gloating, don't they? LOL

  • BartonFink #5 4 years ago

    Wish they would both stfu.

    Here we go again another day another mine is bigger than yours article from MS/Sony. smelly, swam et. al. will be along soon spinning like little tops.

  • The_Inquisitor #6 4 years ago

    Get a life Microsoft, and maybe a girlfriend.

  • bad09 #7 4 years ago

    The problem is GTA is such a big game both MS and Sony want to crow about how well they are doing.

  • TheRealBadabing #8 4 years ago

    Why do people assume they say stuff like this just to start flame wars and get fanbois worked up?

    It's a business announcement aimed at shareholders and people that actually matter, like multi-platform publishers. The message he is emphasizing simply reads "develop for us and you get better sales". Publishers couldn't give a crap about all the FUD MS and Sony throw at each other, all they want to see is a nice big number in their bank account.

  • Triggerhappytel #9 4 years ago

    I agree with King of Hearts and aldo (I chuckled at the Gil reference).

    Just piss off MS. No-one gives a shit, there are other games in the world.

  • Pac #10 4 years ago

    Why do console maufacturers need to act like children. It only spawns legions of fanboys who act in the same way.

    If either machine was perfect then they would have something to shout about.

    They are not. So shut up!

  • Xerx3s #11 4 years ago

    Ah but we sometimes forget that this isn't aimed at gamers, it's aimed at shareholders and the likes.

  • hula hoops #12 4 years ago

    Come on. They are businessman, that's what they do. They just want to sell their product.What do you expect if you are in their shoes? Come out and say Xbox 360 is lame? Get real!

    If I work for Microsoft for marketing their product, that is exactly what I am going to say. If I work for Sony I would say PS3 is the best console on the earth. It would be the same to you as well I guess, so just chill.

  • BartonFink #13 4 years ago

    Ah the share holders.
    It does make for some amusement in the comments section though. Tard baiting and the like used to be a sport around here.

  • Pac #14 4 years ago

    @Xerx3s

    I suppose you're right.

    I just wish EG would leave the willy waving stuff to GIB and leave this site for games reporting.

  • Olemak #15 4 years ago

    Yay hooray then.

    Where I live, PS3 GTA's are sold out everywhere, but the shops still have stacks of xbox versions on shelves. Don't know if that means anything.

    Oh, and the PS3 can account for 40 percent of the sales in the us - with about a third of the installed base? Whoop-de-do!

    I have a hunch that GTA IV has moved a LOT of hardware bundles for Sony. We''ll see, though, whenever Sony issue their spin on it.

  • Vandrius #16 4 years ago

    I wonder if any of these so-called announcements ever have a sanity check applied to them.

    Microsoft: We sold more GTAIV Copies than Sony lol.
    Sanity: But don't we have a bigger installed base?
    Microsoft: Stfu nub. *fired*

    Sony: Yeah, but we have Home. And we are selling PS3's faster!
    Sanity: Home. Sure, give us a release date. And are you selling or shipping?
    Sony: Omg, sif. Don't need dates, and both words start with s. *fired*

    And thus, the voices of sanity go and get a job selling donuts and idiots rule the world.
    Alas.

  • Carlo #17 4 years ago

    "citing "data from the US team", wrote, "According to retailers more than 60% of all GTA games sold in the first week were the Xbox 360 version.""

    So, just the USA then?

    This is such a non-story. What's the worldwide figures?

  • hjarg #18 4 years ago

    Bah, Sony vs MS dickwaving competition is getting old. Big boys, they should have something better to do.

  • Quint2020 #19 4 years ago

    "Why do people assume they say stuff like this just to start flame wars and get fanbois worked up?

    It's a business announcement aimed at shareholders and people that actually matter, like multi-platform publishers. The message he is emphasizing simply reads "develop for us and you get better sales". Publishers couldn't give a crap about all the FUD MS and Sony throw at each other, all they want to see is a nice big number in their bank account."

    QFT

    This is a business press release, it's not aimed at the stupid fanboys that sit on forums and throw shit at each other.

  • Bangaioh #20 4 years ago

    I totally agree with TheRealBadaBing, Hula Hoops et cetera.
    This is pure marketing, showing muscle at the share holders.
    More than MS or Sony, I think all these fanboy tards should get laid once in their life, instead of wasting time on useless comments.

  • LeD #21 4 years ago

    That's gotta sting. Sony's management must be sick to their stomach right now, to think that the franchise that saw them reign over the gaming world has now found a new home, and will no longer be associated with their brand.
    All MS needs to do now is to get a proper FF title on their machine, and Sony's failure will be utterly complete.

  • CannonAnBall #22 4 years ago

    Fuck it. I like a good fight. Carry on it's great.



    Edited by CannonAnBall at 08/05/08 @ 09:14

  • CannonAnBall #23 4 years ago

    ...and for the record. PS3 to win!

  • LeD #24 4 years ago

    @Carlo

    Early indications is that GTA IV has sold over one million more copies on 360 worldwide.

  • 3william56 #25 4 years ago

    LeD: don't you have anything better to do than parrot marketing rubbish for the richest company in the world, and not even get paid for it? You must have a very boring life. Or have the geniuses at MS run out of money having subsidised each one of their extra copies to the tune of $50 each?

  • RazorObsession #26 4 years ago

    i have a 360 and a copy of GTA and a pc with windows on it. does this mean i win?

  • TriggerHippie #27 4 years ago

    "Early indications is that GTA IV has sold over one million more copies on 360 worldwide."

    Wow really? So what format was the other 5 million sold on? :p

  • Kenshin001 #28 4 years ago

    "Early indications is that GTA IV has sold over one million more copies on 360 worldwide."

    100,000 more in the UK. That would mean 900,000 more in the US then.

  • Luvbeers #29 4 years ago

    "Get a life Microsoft, and maybe a girlfriend. "

    But not Michelle, the bloody grass!

  • moggsy #30 4 years ago

    @Luvbeers

    Is that a spoiler?

  • G3org3 #31 4 years ago

    We have more consoles than SONY and we outsell them in software sales

    DO WE REALLY NEED TO BE IN SHOCK MS ??

    i would rather hear MS say about the downscaling of GTA IV on PS3 to brag about rather than sales...630p Christ HD started when SONY said so but never seen actually on her own machine ( GT5 prolugue +jaggies excluded)

  • drumbaby #32 4 years ago

    Only 60% with the massive install base they have over there? If I were them I'd be worried it wasn't more, tbh.

  • Frandroid #33 4 years ago

    "Wow really? So what format was the other 5 million sold on? :p"

    One million more sold on X360, so that be 3.5million versus 2.5million on PS3. Nearly 60% market share or 40% more than Sony depending on how you want to spin it.

  • bag-in-box #34 4 years ago

    well, the next shipment of gta for ps3 is here today so the numbers might turn.. at least here in scandinavia all ps3 copies were sold out, not so with the 360 version. so many have waited for a week now to buy it.

  • alimokrane #35 4 years ago

    To be far, Sony started this by the way!

  • chrisjm #36 4 years ago

    why do sony and ms do this?
    simple, its not for the fanboys, its because there are still probably millions of copies expected to be sold worldwide, a huge % with a console.
    so they are both gloating about being best so you buy theirs.

  • anomagnus #37 4 years ago

    they should probably stop this now....

  • LeD #38 4 years ago

    To those who pretend these are worrying numbers considering the larger 360 userbase: there are many other good games out on 360, we 360 owners haven't been starved of quality titles, so there's no need for us to go out and buy it in our droves like rabbid Burberry-capped Seat- driving PS3 Fanboy Chav Cunts.
    Edited by LeD at 08/05/08 @ 10:45

  • byron_hinson #39 4 years ago

    @Olemak - Same here in Cambridge, PS3 versions are sold out but the 360 ones are on the shelf - may have just ordered in more 360 copies though so who knows.

  • byron_hinson #40 4 years ago

    @drumbaby - agreed, MS also paid for all advertising and none of that advertising mentions the PS3 version, 60% of sales when you have a much larger fanbase, full advertising etc isn't a good sign.

  • Psychotext #41 4 years ago

    I posted it in the last thread on the subject, it's valid here too..

    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.

  • Psychotext #42 4 years ago

    @byron_hinson: There was no MS television advertising in the US, only Europe. Most of the adverts in the US were handled by retailers.

  • miiiguel #43 4 years ago

    Do an intelectual exercise: imagine PS3 with the 360 games/features and vice-versa. 360 would be dead, PS3 would be selling more than Wii, imo. PS3-fanboys would be crazy mad saying they had the best games and online...

    But it's not, things are what they are. MS is working very, very hard. Sony got too cocky, but they manage to get away by just saying "home, so good, some day..."; "games, yeah..., ok... just wait! or else!"

  • byron_hinson #44 4 years ago

    ahhh didn't know about the tv ads only the in-print ones MS were doing here and over in America.

  • Psychotext #45 4 years ago

    @byron_hinson: Both companies had print ads in the US. Plus Rockstar obviously covered a bunch of buildings and buses in stuff... and gamespot did some TV adverts.

  • Sevens #46 4 years ago

    "The stats come a day after Microsoft declared victory in Europe, citing Chart-Track's reports that 100,000 or so more copies of GTA IV were sold on 360 than on the rival PS3."

    Declared victory in the UK. There are a couple of more countries around. Which (coincidentally) happen to be more PS3 oriented.

  • Apologie #47 4 years ago

    READ... MICROSOFT AT IT'S BEST.

    GTA IV: Xbox vs PlayStation
    Beware the half-truths that Microsoft wants you to believe

    There's been a lot of focus in the last week on Grand Theft Auto IV and which platform it best runs on.

    The majority of people who've played both versions are saying that it runs marginally better on the PS3, but the findings are inconclusive at best: both are equally good in our eyes.

    What's interesting to me at the moment is how Microsoft is attempting to use GTA as a PR exercise to boast about the Xbox 360 console and its success.

    We received an unbelievable and outrageous press release today from Microsoft UK saying:

    "Gamers have voted with their wallets, and the results are in. The Xbox 360 version of 'Grand Theft Auto IV' has sold more than 100,000 copies, or 20 per cent more than the PlayStation 3 version in the UK since the game's release last Tuesday 29 April."

    Exaggeration and hyperbole

    The release then sees Microsoft rambling on and on, mostly just patting itself on the back about selling more copies and going on about how the Xbox 360 is the premium platform for enjoying GTA. Blah, blah, blah.

    Please excuse me briefly while I pause to be sick.

    Here's the point: there are more Xbox 360 consoles out there (it launched over a year earlier) so straight numbers are a terrible way of looking at the market. The Xbox 360 version of GTA IV sold 20 per cent more copies than the PS3 version. And that's despite the fact that there are almost twice as many Xbox 360 consoles in the wild in the UK, compared to PS3s.

    Crunch the numbers

    So, relatively speaking, for Microsoft to brag about doing better than Sony, it would need to sell almost twice as many copies of the game, too. But it didn't. And as such, the numbers say that per-console, the PS3 version has actually done a bit better.

    "Data released by ELSPA/Chart-Track shows Xbox 360 Week One sales at 514,000 copies sold in the UK. PlayStation 3 version of the game sold only 413,000 copies, clearly demonstrating that gamers prefer the Xbox 360 version," says the Microsoft press release progaganda exercise.

    What a load of complete rubbish, Microsoft!

    Let's do the maths. 413,000 PS3 copies of GTA IV divided by the 1.2m PS3 consoles sold in the UK, equates to about 0.3 copies sold per console. So basically one in three UK PS3 owners have bought GTA IV in the last seven days.

    Compare that to the 514,000 Xbox 360 copies sold in the UK, divided by the 2.2m consoles in circulation. It amounts to 0.23 copies per console. So about one in four Xbox 360 owners bought the game. Comparatively LESS than the PS3 version.

    It's all a load of smoke and mirrors nonsense. Everyone is up to it - it's not just Microsoft.

    This is an absolutely textbook example of a big company spouting a load of dingo's kidneys in order to promote itself.

    http://www.techradar.com/blogs/article/g...

    JUST another LIE...

  • bitesize #48 4 years ago


    i think there might be another couple of threads left on this site where you haven't copy/pasted that in yet, apologie... maybe someone has missed the benefit of your marvellous second-hand wisdom.

  • Amoebalove #49 4 years ago

    @apologie

    Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!! you are so funny you crazy clown!!!!

  • smelly #50 4 years ago

    Surely the only reason it sold more on the 360 than ps3 is because there's more 360 owners out there (at the moment - i fully expect this to change by the end of the year)?

    Still.. I guess the xbox 1080 is just around the corner hey fanboys?

  • VMerken #51 4 years ago

    Oh yeah, slap them claws! Meow!

  • juuken #52 4 years ago

    Oh for fuck's sake MS, shut the hell up already. You sold more games, okay, whatever. But Sony sold more consoles with the game because it's a Sony brand.

    Get the hell over yourselves.

    Blundering morons.

  • juuken #53 4 years ago

    And LED, shut the hell up.

  • JimJam #54 4 years ago

    I'm not surprised that the 360 hasn't sold a bigger share - I went to several shops in 3 different towns in the first week (didn't pre-order), and couldn't get the game anywhere. Finally got it this week from Play (which was also sold out for a few days). If my experience was anything to go by, the 2nd/3rd week of sales will be where we find out what's really going on. Anecdotally, there were a few PS3 copies left in a couple of the 9 shops I went in, but that could just be because their supply chain was better. But round here at least (Surrey) there were sod all 360 copies to be had just walking in off the street, even including Saturday just gone.
    Edited by JimJam at 09/05/08 @ 01:30