Michael Pachter told Reuters that, if GTA 4’s sales come in at the high end of the 9-12.5 million unit estimates for this year, the game will be responsible for sales of two million PlayStation 3 consoles and one million Xbox 360 consoles. “I think the PS3 ‘wins’ this battle.”

Early indications are that the PS3 version looks better than the Xbox 360 version, but probably not enough to be a big deciding factor.

Microsoft loaned Rockstar $50 million in order to secure exclusive DLC and intends to market the game as if it were a first party product.

Sony will be backing this game and is banking on it to go along with titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4 to really kick PS3 purchases into high gear (another price cut wouldn’t hurt). They plan to release GTA 4 bundles in Europe and Australia.