Will GTA 5 Sales Outsold Books?

Choosing a book from a bookstore

 

To be told that one single game Grand Theft Auto 5 has outsold the lot of them is what publishers are facing sliding sales and are going to be further depressed. One quick question: is it true?

At least one agent was seen worrying on Twitter:

Surely no? Not all the united kingdom books sold?

Not yet, but maybe

Not quite so mythical is this nascent urban myth, really. Theft Auto V sales reached $800m within the first 24 hours of its release. After three days, sales topped $1bn. UK publishers sold £3.3bn of books within the whole of 2012 (that includes digital similarly as printed books).

Let’s say it’s safe to assume that sales of GTA V, especially with a mod GTA 5 account, will still grow. But let’s also say that every two days, the speed of growth drops (by say 10%). Does it appear as if gaming can overtake books on revenue before the top of the year? Easily.

 

ALSO READ: Literature & Video Game Skin

In little over a month on sale, gaming (and one game in particular) could overtake all of British publishing, on the face of things. There are a pair of snags to the current exciting fact: 1) we’re comparing global GTA V sales with national book sales and 2) if you alter the speed of growth, even by some percent, GTA 5 comes nowhere near books. Never mind, here are other interesting facts to inform culture snobs who rub you up the incorrect way:

Shopping queue time for a replica of GTA V on day of release: 1 hour
Shopping queue time for a duplicate of Harry Potter VII on day of release: 4 hours+
(books: 0, games: 1)

Cost to provide a game: £170m production divided by however many units sold
Cost to provide a book: £3
(probably books: 1, games: 0)

Sales by book giant Penguin 2012: £1.1bn
Sales by gaming giant Nintendo in 2012: £0.5bn
(books: 1, games: 0)