360 GTA will outsell PS3 version 2:1, says analyst

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Title expected to sell nine million copies worldwide by 2009

Wedbush Morgan Securites analyst Michael Pachter has stated that the Xbox version of Grand Theft Auto will sell double the amount of units in its first fiscal year.

According to Game Daily, Pachter stated in a research report to Take-Two that he expects the company to sell nine million units within the first year of its release, six million of which will be on Xbox 360.

He also suggests that downloadable content - once thought to be the deciding factor in which version multi-console owners would purchase - will be financially unrewarding for Take-Two.

"[We think] Take-Two will have to generate over 2 million downloads (assuming a $15 per download price) on the Xbox 360 before it sees any more cash from this content," he said.

"We expect around 6 million copies of GTA IV to be sold to Xbox 360 owners, and believe that around 65% of Xbox 360 owners are Xbox Live members, so the company has to sell a download to 50% of its addressable market in order to generate cash from the first download. This is possible, but not highly likely."

Should Pachter's estimates prove correct, it would be unlikely that Grand Theft Auto would become a Sony exclusive again, and call into question the decision making behind single-format releases for Rockstar.

Courtesy of CVG.

Mar 28, 2008