Speaking to Reuters, several analysts expected that the success of GTA IV's launch will be more beneficial to the Playstation 3 than it is to the Xbox 360.
Grand Theft Auto 4 is expected to sell between 9 million and 12.5 million units in 2008. According to Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan, if sales come in at the high end of that range, the game will directly spur sales of 2 million additional PS3s in 2008, versus 1 million Xbox 360s.
"I think PS3 'wins' this battle," Pachter said.
"So many people who owned the PS2 went into PlayStation family because of 'GTA'. The release of 'GTA4' could expedite their decision to upgrade," said Edward Williams, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets.
On the other side, Microsoft has already managed to secure exclusive GTA IV downloadable content for Xbox 360 and they are marketing through and advertising campaign rivaling that of Halo 3. Not to mention the mandatory 5 minutes installation required for the Playstation 3 version only.
"Online is such a strong part of the game and Microsoft has done such a great job of developing the online community, so for people who own multiple consoles, they will buy it for the 360," said IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon.
One last point to consider is that Halo 3 has been released just a few months ago and that most gamers interested in Xbox 360 would have bought it by that time.
