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By Mike Snider, USA TODAY
In making Grand Theft Auto IV the top selling game of April, despite its only being in stores five days, consumers opted for the Microsoft Xbox 360 version at a rate of almost two-to-one.
The Xbox 360 version of GTA IV sold 1.85 million copies, according to market tracking firm The NPD Group. The Sony PlayStation 3 version sold 1 million copies, taking the month's No. 3 spot. Drifting into second was Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii, selling 1.12 million copies.
TECHNOLOGY LIVE: More notes on gaming
Early GTA IV sales can be dissected in more than one way, says NPD's Anita Frazier. For starters, the game "is one of the fastest-selling titles in video games history," with overall 20% of current Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 owners buying the game. The game was expected to spur monthly system sales, too. But Xbox 360 sales were 188,000 and PS3 sales were 187,100 — both lower than March sales, respectively, of 262,000 and 257,000. "It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV," Frazier says. "However, since the game was only in the market for five days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data." Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said that the company expects May to be "a better barometer" for (the game's) impact on console sales. "We expect Grand Theft Auto IV will be a top game attach to (sales of new) Xbox 360s even into this holiday and being that we are able to offer exclusive episodes (on Xbox Live) having that advantage will be key for us." Sony's Gran Turismo 5 Prologue captured the No. 6 sales slot (224,000 copies sold) for a "one-two punch" along with GTA IV for the PS3 in April, Sony Computer Entertainment America president Jack Tretton said. Sony also expects May PS3 sales to increase thanks to GTA IV. PS3 console sales were more than twice that of April 2007, he said, pointing to interest in Blu-ray Disc movie playback and upcoming games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 in June and, later in the year, Resistance 2, SOCOM: Confrontation and LittleBigPlanet to drive momentum. Meanwhile, shoppers continued to snatch up Nintendo Wii systems as quickly as stores could get them. April sales of 714,200 nearly matched the previous month's tally of 721,000 — the largest non-holiday month for the Wii so far. To date, Microsoft has sold 10.1 million Xbox 360s. Nintendo is quickly catching up as consumers have gobbled up 9.5 million Wiis while Sony has sold 4.3 million PlayStation 3s. "I think what we see is we have an incredibly vibrant industry right now," says Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway. "The fact that we can have a strong launch of something like Grand Theft Auto IV as well as a strong launch of Mario Kart Wii just speaks to the excitement around the industry." Frazier concurred, noting that monthly video game sales (hardware, software, accessories) were $1.23 billion, 47% higher than in April 2007. "The industry continues to set a blistering sales pace, and now shows a year-to-date increase of 31% over last year's record-setting revenues."
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