Nielson: One in Five GTA IV Owners are Underage

Nielson surveyed Grand Theft Auto IV owners and found some interesting results.  First of all, they found that 17 % of GTA IV owners are between the ages of seven and sixteen.  I’m sorry to say it, but this isn’t a completely shocking number; just look at how many high pitched voices play GTA IV multiplayer.  And I’m sure the underage attach rate for other M-rated games (think Halo 3) is even higher.

What is interesting, however, is the amount of underage kids surveyed that managed to buy the game themselves.  61% of these minors were able to walk into a store and purchase this game, according to this survey.  Personally, I believe the actual percentage is much lower than this because rules have gotten much stricter and almost all game stores check ID’s now.  And I’m sorry, but I don’t think a seven year old is going to pass as an adult, no matter how legit his fake ID looks.

The other 39% of minors who managed to get their grubby little hands on this game were given it by someone they know.  Interesting enough, most of these givers were parents as 80% of the underage kids who received this game were given it by their parents.  The other 20% were given GTA IV by other family or friends.  This number seems very accurate, as I’m sure there are plenty of adults out there who believe that the big black M on video game boxes stands for “monkeys” or something.  I agree, these people need to be educated about what they are buying their children.

Also noted in the report was the fact that 25% of Xbox 360 version buyers stated that they chose the Xbox 360 version because of the exclusive DLC.  I guess that $50 million was well spent, Microsoft.  As for the underage owners news, expect that to hit Fox News tonight.