GTA : San Andreas is on its way to creating one of the most impressive sales records ever achieved for the whole of the entertainment industry. Over its first weekend in the U.K., the controversial title sold 677,000 copies at GBP 35.45. These figures mean that the game generated total revenue of GBP 4 million, the best opening weekend for a movie in the U.K. was achieved by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, earlier this year, which brought in GBP 23.88 million.
The impressive U.K. figure however, is by no means the limit of San Andreas' success. Although official worldwide figures have not yet been released, GTA:SA is reported to have sold really well in the rest of Europe and the U.S. as well. A very basic and relatively accurate estimate suggests that European sales of GTA:SA must have matched those of the U.K. so total European sales should be close to 1.5 million. If the U.S. is also doing as well as expected the grand total might be close to 3 million units sold, an extremely impressive figure.
In order to help readers realise the importance of Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas we have to consider that Sony planned the launch of its new slimline PS2 around the release of Rockstar's game and it was right to do so. The so called, PSTwo was the driving force behind a significant hardware sales increase in the U.K. last week which led to the console outselling XBox, its main rival, by more than 2:1, even though XBox enjoyed a 7 per cent increase in sales. During the same period the new PS2 outsold GameCube by 17:1. It would be foolish to isolate the increase in PS2 sales from the release of GTA:SA, an event which defined the launch of the revamped PSTwo console.
GTA:SAs potential cannot be underestimated and with 6 weeks left until Christmas, all records seem to be fair game for Rockstar's Welcome to the Jungle title. The latest target is the GBP 69 million that Titanic grossed in U.K. theatres. It might seem a long way away yet but GTA has proved itself to be a record breaking kind of game.
