GTA V exceeds $1 billion in only 3 days

Rockstar’s epic title is officially the fastest to reach the sales milestone of any entertainment property.

Well, that didn’t take long. After happily announcing day-one sales of $800 million, publisher Take-Two has now achieved the much sought after $1 billion sales mark with GTA V in just three days, according to the publisher’s internal estimates. “We believe this marks the fastest that any entertainment property, including video games and feature films, has reached this significant milestone,” the company said.

“Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary critical and commercial response to Grand Theft Auto V.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was the last record holder, reaching $1 billion in 15 days. It’ll be interesting to see how Call of Duty: Ghosts fares when it ships. Some analysts predicted that GTA V would reach $1 billion in sales during its first month at retail, but it’s now clear that the title will generate figures well beyond that.

 

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Microsoft: Kinect Sells 20 Million Units

Mat Barlow, the general manager of product marketing at Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, in an interview with GamesIndustry International has announced that its hand-free controller, the Kinect, has shipped 20 million units worldwide.

“We’re at 20 million now, and again, that number’s just continuing to grow,” said Barlow when asked how much the Kinect has sold. “And I know we’ve seen holiday cycles like this. Gift givers coming out to buy Kinect is really going to be a large chunk of the console units sold these days. So 20 million units of Kinect and at the end of this holiday that number should be creeping up as well.”

Barlow was also asked about the $99 Xbox program and why consumers would choose the program. “The thing that we’re trying to do with this program is just really give people choice,” said Barlow. “And that’s why I’m most excited to be able to have this – it’s really the first in this industry to have this. Usually you pay up front and that’s all you get. And we like giving people the opportunity to say, hey, I’d rather pay as I go and have that initial start price come down as low as possible. And then we give people the choice to balance between the two. It’s a lot like buying a car or leasing a car.”

“I think the safest assumption is that this type of practice is one we’re looking at this holiday and in the future,” said Barlow when he was asked whether or not this program is coming to the next generation Xbox.

Source: vgchartz.com