GTA 4 on PS3, Xbox 360 biggest seller in 2008 & on way to PC & Japan

Grand Theft Auto IV broke all sorts of sales records when it was released back in April. But the figures so far could just be the beginning as the game is still to be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan, and on the PC worldwide.

The games industry now rivals the film and television industries as a global entity. While the U.S. is regarded as the world’s largest market, Japan has a big influence seeing as that’s where most of the games developers originate from while Europe has a diverse set of gamers always keen to get their hands on any new technology.

Which is why the recently announced partnership between chart specialists GFK (Europe), Chart-Track (UK), NPD (US) and Enterbrain (Japan) could prove important for games companies to get a better feel for the global business of gaming.

According to GI.biz, the collaboration will see the companies produce a ‘Top Global Markets Report’ every month detailing software sales data from the three largest markets. The collaboration has already produced its first report, and it shows quite unsurprisingly that Grand Theft Auto IV is the biggest selling game so far this year.

GTA 4 has so far managed sales totalling 6,293,000 units, despite only having been released in April, and not yet being out in Japan. The localised version of the Rockstar game will be released in Japan on October 30th and if sales are anywhere near the levels seen in the U.S. and Europe then the number one spot is safe.

Grand Theft Auto IV is also confirmed to be on its way to the PC, with a release date of November 18th in North America and November 21st in Europe. The PC version should get rid of that annoying slowdown and also offer even more multiplayer options than the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

Back to the list of biggest selling games for 2008 and excluding GTA 4, the Wii is triumphant. Super Smash Bros. Brawl made it in to second place with 5,433,000 units sold, Mario Kart Wii took third with 4,697,000 units sold and Wii Fit came fourth with 3,604,000 unit sales across the three regions, despite heavy shortages. In fifth came Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock with 3,475,000 units sold.

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