Microsoft also saw a 125 percent jump in console sales which perfectly mirrored the 514,000 copies moved in week one over Sony’s 413,000. Gerry Berkley, Trading Manager for Woolworths, stated the following:

“Grand Theft Auto IV has done phenomenally well this week with Xbox 360 version outselling PS3 in our stores. Xbox 360 console sales have seen a big uplift off the back of Grand Theft Auto IV launching. It’s clear our customers see Xbox 360 as a great console for this incredible game.”

Microsoft also welcomed GTA IV in their Xbox Live arms as the most played game currently on the service, dethroning previous king, Call of Duty 4. So the figure of 9.7 million hours of people playing online should come as a surprise to nobody, of course, how many of those people will still be playing after their free month of Gold service is up still remains in the air, but I am guessing quite a few will stick around. It is by no means over for Sony however, they still have plenty of options open to them if they want to get back in the ring.

While Microsoft has some exclusive content coming this fall, Sony can gather up their own content as well, I am sure Rockstar would be more than happy to help bring more GTA to the masses. Sony could even get some decent online numbers with a few tweaks here and there. The future is in Sony’s hands, they just have to step it up, especially in advertising. Amongst the whole campaign I only saw one PlayStation 3 ad for GTA IV, while I was shoved down the throat with Microsoft ads.

At the end of the day, everyone who had their hand on Grand Theft Auto IV received some amount of good tidings from its launch. Take-Two has an effective negotiating tool to gain whatever they want from Electronic Arts, Microsoft has a big lead and current bragging rights of what is projected to be the biggest selling game of the year, and Sony, despite not beating Microsoft, is not far behind them.