At least one literary agent was seen worrying on Twitter:
FUN FACT: In first 2 days of sales, #GTA V took more money than UK booksales in a year. #sadface
— Artellus (@Artellus) September 30, 2013
Surely no? Not all the UK books sold?
Not yet, but maybe
Actually, this nascent urban myth isn't quite so mythical. Grand Theft Auto V sales reached $800m in the first 24 hours of its release. After three days, sales topped $1bn. UK publishers sold £3.3bn of books in the whole of 2012 (that includes digital as well as printed books).
Let's say it's safe to assume that sales of GTA V will continue to grow. But let's also say that every two days, the rate of growth drops (by say 10%. Does it look like gaming can overtake books on revenue before the end of the year? Easily.
So, on the face of things, gaming (and one game in particular) could overtake all of British publishing in little over a month on sale. There are a couple of snags to this exciting fact: 1) we're comparing global GTA V sales with national book sales and 2) if you change the rate of growth, even by a few per cent, GTA 5 comes nowhere near books. Never mind, here are some other interesting facts to tell culture snobs who rub you up the wrong way:
Shopping queue time for a copy of GTA V on day of release: 1 hour
Shopping queue time for a copy of Harry Potter VII on day of release: 4 hours+
(books: 0, games: 1)Cost to produce a game: £170m production divided by however many units sold
Cost to produce 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)
Think we've missed something? Is the joy of gaming/books immeasurable? Do dollar signs miss the point? Let us know in the comments below.
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