Pachter: GTA IV could sell 9 million units by Halloween
by Alexander Sliwinski 
on Mar 12th 2008 4:30PM
Wedbush Morgan analyst
Michael Pachter believes
Grand Theft Auto IV could become the
best-selling game of 2008, with $450 million in revenue and over 9 million units sold by the end of Take-Two's fiscal year (Oct. 31). He believes that
GTA IV will ship 6 million units in its first week and sell 75% of that in a brief amount of time -- that means the game should not be difficult to find at any big box retailer.
GTA IV is expected to mask the "underperformance" of other Take-Two games and make up "100% of Take-Two's earnings for the year."
It's not all sunshine and lollipops, though, as Pachter questions the profitability of
GTA IV's Xbox 360
exclusive downloadable content. The conclusion of some fancy math is that 50% of Xbox 360
GTA IV owners will have to purchase the DLC for Take-Two to generate cash from the deal, which Pachter believes is "not highly likely." Taking
GTA IV out of the equation, Pachter continues to
make his case for the EA buyout of Take-Two by saying the company continues to lose market share and revenues.
GTA IV unleashes panic on Liberty City beginning
April 29.
