May 07, 2008

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

First week sales for the much-hyped videogame "Grand Theft Auto IV" did even better than expected, moving 6 million copies and raking in $500 million in sales.

That first week performance blows away the previous record held by "Halo 3" which sold about 2.6 million units and earned $300 million. First day sales for "Grand Theft Auto IV," including all pre-orders, totaled 3.6 million copies.

"Halo 3" was an Xbox 360 exclusive while "Grand Theft Auto IV" is available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation3. In the U.S., the Xbox 360 version has outsold the PS3 version by a factor of two-to-one.

The "Grand Theft Auto IV" sales figures dramatically exceeded analysts' rather high expectations. Many expected the game to sell 5 million copies after two weeks and 9 million for the year, and predicted a $400 million first-week tally.

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