Report: GTA 4 Expected to Sell $400M in First Week

Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X360) publisher Take-Two Interactive is expecting the title to achieve $400 million in sales during its first week at retail, if the word of Variety's sources are to be believed.

Developed by Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar North, the crime-filled and multiplayer-enabled open-world title is slated to launch on April 29.

Assuming those unnamed sources are correct, the company further believes it will sell over six million units of the game. Given that Grand Theft Auto IV is arriving on two platforms across multiple territories worldwide, that isn't such a far-fetched figure.

Such a strong performance would dethrone Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) from its spot at the top of the record books. In the week after its September 25 launch, the much anticipated shooter set a new record for a video game launch by bringing in over $300 million in sales.

In that same time span, 2.7 million gamers played Halo 3 online and logged a total of 40 million hours in the title. This led to Hollywood blaming Halo 3 for poor ticket sales, with some predicting a similar fate for the films hitting theaters after GTA 4.