generated $800 million in first-day sales, shattering the previous record of $500 million held by Call of Duty: Black Ops II, according to Take-Two Interactive, who published the game.”We are incredibly proud of Rockstar Games’ creative achievement and could not be more pleased with the success of this launch,” said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.Deadline puts the haul in the context of this year’s big summer blockbusters, noting that the game has already generated more revenue than Man of Steel–although obviously video game sales and box office receipts are a whole other animal. Roughly 81 million tickets have been sold to Man of Steel worldwide to generate $663 million, whereas the lowest price available online for Grand Theft Auto V is $55, meaning that fewer than 15 million units have likely been sold.That’s not to say that 15 million units and close to a billion dollars in revenue is anything to scoff at; just that the frequent comparison of box office performance to video game retail sales is a false one for a number of reasons, starting with the bottom line price and including things like the games’ 24-hour retail window at big box stores and online.
