GTA IV Sales Not as Obscenely/Repulsively Huge as Expected, Barely 10 Million Sold

September 15, 2008

Companies, no matter how big or small, really like making money. This is no secret and, you know, God bless. Sometimes, though, their whining about not making enough of the stuff can be downright infuriating. A good example is Take-Two Interactive, makers of the ~~overrated~~ popular Grand Theft Auto video games. According to a recent report, sales of GTA IV are slowing considerably and not meeting the company’s expectations.

Now, before anyone sheds a tear for poor, little Take-Two, let’s recap some numbers. In its first week, GTA IV made $500 million US. It’s taken The Dark Knight, summer’s undisputed blockbuster film, nine weeks to do that –and by the film industry’s standards, it’s a freak. A film is considered a huge success if it makes around $100 million in its run. No clear monetary figure has been revealed about sales of GTA IV, but it has sold between 8.8-10 million copies (depending who you believe) since its release in April.

These figures are apparently not what Take-Two was hoping for. With the game falling to the 46th best-selling game in August on NPD Data’s rankings (one spot down from July), Take-Two feels the game may have a tough time meeting projected sales. "As a must-have game, we expect GTA IV sales to continue at an energetic pace,” a Take-Two spokeswoman told CNN.

The news comes at the worst possible time for Take-Two, as the developer was hoping to use strong GTA IV sales to help raise its value during Electronic Arts’ attempted bid on the company. Instead, EA pulled its offer and Take-Two’s shares have since dropped.

Looks like Take-Two execs will have to stick with using $50 bills instead of $100 bills in their money fights.