It's Rockstar Games again, this time with Niko Bellic's sprawling misadventures through Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV. Of the few franchises which can give Call Of Duty a run for its money for sales, any Grand Theft Auto release comes with three guarantees: It's going to cost a shedload to produce, it's going to break a couple of industry records when it lands, and it's going to be ripped apart by conservative fun-spoilers before they've even played the thing. GTA IV ticked all of those boxes. In 2008, this was the most expensive game this industry had ever seen, by quite a margin - another title generally considered by those in the know to have set the publisher back a hefty $100 million. That's a lot of bank notes, far more than Niko and his nefarious pals could have stuffed into their duffel bags in that epic bank heist mission. Money well spent? Oh yes, very much so. GTA IV killed it at retail - something along the lines of $500 million in sales in its first week. And that, friends, is what we call a successful launch. Public outcry over Niko's drunk driving, prostitute murdering shenanigans aside, when your production and marketing costs are dwarfed by your week-one revenues, you're onto a good thing.
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
