New York (NY) - In its first day on store shelves, more than 600,000 copies of Grand Theft Auto IV were sold in the UK, which is more than any video game in the past.

Grand Theft Auto is one of the most powerful franchises in the gaming industry, and is the crown jewel for its development company Rockstar.  The new installment, which is the first for the Xbox 360 and PS3, was expected to be even more successful than previous titles.

The sales numbers show that in the UK, GTA IV sold a record 609,000 units in its first 24 hours.  The previous record holder, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, ranked in at 501,000 units.

The game also set sales records for the Xbox 360 and PS3.  The Xbox 360 version of GTA IV alone sold 335,000 units, beating out Halo 3's 266,000 units.  The PS3 version of the street crime game had sales of 274,000 units, well ahead of the previous top seller, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which sold 80,000 units in its first day.

Prior to the release of GTA IV, top-selling video game publisher Electronic Arts made an offer to acquire Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar.  After it essentially told EA to hold off until after GTA IV came out, EA extended the offer.

However, it lowered the price.  It now wants to take over the company for $25.74 per share.  When it first offered the acquisition deal on March 13 it was willing to pay $26 per share.

Before GTA IV's release, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said, "Take-Two's board of directors has maintained from the beginning, and continues to believe, that EA's proposal vastly undervalues our company.  It undervalued the company at $26 per share, and it certainly undervalues Take-Two at $25.74."

Thee offer is on the table until May 16.

OMG

May 01, 2008 09:49     

Cue the Xbox360 fan boys.......
spammage report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -3

Re:OMG

May 01, 2008 10:14     

"The game also set sales records for the Xbox 360 and ---->PS3
Dude... report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Certainly...

May 01, 2008 10:34     

GTA is much like the halo series to me in the fact that its pretty much the same game, each time, but just looks better, prettier, or shinier... But sure theres all the new features, you can do horrible things to people, especially women... (go figure) but what I would prefer to see is them take on religion by being able to burn down churches in the next one, or something... Damn GTA fan boys...
Dean of Stupid report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -12

i'm sure they made there moeny back already

May 01, 2008 17:21     

I'm sure they made there money back in 1 day lol
andrew report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

@ Dean of Stupid

May 02, 2008 14:33     

your name says it all ... nuff said
09 F9 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1