GTA 4 Drives PS3 Sales

It’s no surprise that sales of Grand Theft Auto IV have been very strong. As a matter of fact, Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced that the demand for the game has driven sales of the PS3 within the first 24 hours of the game’s release. No specific sales figures were released, however.

“From our position, the launch of GTA IV has been tremendous in driving traffic to our stores, as well as providing a vigorous lift in PS3 console sales over this time last week,” said GameStop’s senior VP of merchandising Bob McKenzie. “We attribute the growth to a huge fan base of PS2 owners who see this title as the trigger for the PS3 upgrade they’ve been planning.”

Analyst Michael Pachter believes that brand loyalty may have been the driving force behind the sales increase. “There is a huge installed base of loyal PlayStation 2 owners who have been looking for a reason to upgrade, and they have strong previous ties to the Grand Theft Auto franchise on PlayStation platforms,” said Pachter.

Sales figures for the game are yet to be released.