Grand Theft Auto Burns Up Sales Record

Grand Theft Auto IV made off with a clean $500 million in its first week on sale, the biggest bow ever for a video game, MTV reports. The take left in the dust Halo 3’s $300 million debut, the previous record holder. It also surpasses any movie or music launch to date, manufacturer Take-Two’s chairman was quick to point out.

Movie veterans, in fact, worried that GTA’s launch would cut into the audience for Iron Man, but the superhero movie still managed to pull in $100 million. No major video game dared challenge GTA, save for Nintendo’s Mario Kart. But Mario Kart is targeting a different market segment: It works only on the Wii, the one major system GTA skipped. (More Grand Theft Auto IV stories.)