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GTA IV breaks UK day one sales record

Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV has become the fastest selling title in the UK in terms of day one sales, shifting a total of 609,000 copies in 24 hours.

The crime epic nudges out former record holder Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which sold 501,000 copies in its first day on sale back in October 2004.

In terms of versions sold, the Xbox 360 release accounted for just over half of GTA IV’s overall sales with 335,000 copies sold (55 per cent), beating Halo 3’s previous record of 266,000 units in September 2007.

The PlayStation 3 version, meanwhile, sold 274,000 copies, drumming up 45 per cent of overall sales and become the fastest selling title on that system in 24 hours, beating Gran Turismo 5 Prologue’s record of 80,000 copies.

Speaking to MCV, ChartTrack Director Dorian Bloch commented, “We’ll get into the whole week one debate next Tuesday, but it’s been a very good 24 hours for both Sony and Microsoft.”

“It’s looking very, very promising for Rockstar in terms of full week sales. Even if they don’t even sell one more unit, the current figure would still make for an astounding week one performance,” added Bloch.

"Barring a catastrophe, with lorries bringing stock into stores going AWOL, we can only see that sales number going up and up.

“The Bank Holiday weekend should be a particularly fruitful period – but it will be interesting to see how long the stock lasts as people rush to stores.

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