Grand Theft Auto sales numbers might be skewed

For Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive, it must seem like Christmas in springtime.

That’s because Take-Two’s own first-week sales figures regarding the debut of its “Grand Theft Auto IV” franchise are said to have soared well past those of any previous title, including the much ballyhooed “Halo 3.” Take-Two estimates that it raked in $500 million in the first week after GTA IV’s debut April 29.

About $310 million of that poured in on just the first day, Take-Two claims.

If all that’s true, then GTA IV now reigns as the new top dog for first week sales, surpassing the stellar performance “Halo 3″ put in last fall. That title pulled in about $300 million in Week 1 — a pittance by comparison.

Game Guy knows how Take-Two must feel. He once pawned off an old computer on eBay for about $200 more for it than he expected, and was dancing in the street all day afterward. You gotta love those unanticipated windfalls.

But as Game Guy looks over his own inventory, he notices that he now has six copies of GTA IV — three for Xbox 360 and three for PlayStation 3 — all sent from various representatives of Rockstar to get him to review the game and promote it.

Yes, six copies. The PR folks over there apparently weren’t paying attention.

Now, really, Game Guy’s nobody special; he would be the first to admit that if not for all the e-mail and phone calls constantly reminding him (And he wishes his mother would stop doing that). So it’s unlikely he’s the only one so blessed with so much spare GTA IV. Other reviewers/promoters/executives likely received at least one copy as well, perhaps even dozens.

Multiply that times all the newspapers, blogs, TV and radio shows and special events engorged by Take-Two’s generosity, and Game Guy begins to wonder just how many of the 6 million copies said to have changed hands the first week really were “sales.”

He wonders because a few industry insiders have told him in the past that some companies count those giveaways toward final sales figures.

“They’re an investment in the company’s future,” one said in confidence. “The attention those giveaways and promotions give us are worth millions in sales.”

Though he mentions this, Game Guy’s not certain beyond reasonable doubt whether Take-Two is among the companies that do this kind of thing. But if you measure all the attention GTA IV has received to date, why shouldn’t it?