Grand Theft Auto 4 brings in USD 500 million in first week of sales

Take-Two Interactive Software have a major hit on their hands as their just launched gaming title Grand Theft Auto 4 has scored over $500 million in global sales in the first week itself.

This performance would boost their efforts to ignore the acquisition bid by rival company Electronic Arts.

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said in a report: “When you’re negotiating like this it’s all about leverage. Take-Two couldn’t be in a better position. If EA wants to keep their bid at $25.74 and thinks that’s a fair price, they are going to have to walk away from this deal.”

Take-Two said in its statement that the game sold about 6 million copies in the first week of launch.

This is much better than Microsoft’s Halo 3 which saw sales of around $300 million in the same period.

Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take-Two added: “Grand Theft Auto IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date.”