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GTA Sony Exclusivity Reaffirmed - For Now

Posted by simoniker on from the ngage-version-can-only-be-weeks-away dept.

Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for their article discussing Take Two's comments on console exclusivity for the Grand Theft Auto franchise, following the surprise announcement of the GTA 'double-pack' for Xbox, which came about because Take Two/Rockstar had "amended its exclusivity deal with Sony, which had previously prevented the games from appearing on any console other than the PS2." Despite this amendment, Take Two CEO Jeffery Lapin confirmed "...that the next [GTA] game will be on the PlayStation 2 (not the PlayStation 3 as has been speculated by some commentators) and will have an unspecified period of exclusivity on that platform." He also stated that the company "currently has no plans to bring the series to Nintendo's GameCube", but might re-evaluate if "financially prudent".

11 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Re:PC ports ... by Ceyan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There was a court decision (I think it was settled in court at least, or maybe someone just found a loophole and no one contested it) a long time ago that stated exclusive releases on a console did not have bearing on a PC given the seperate classification. (A console is well... a console, whereas a PC is a personal computer and not associated with the definition of a "console"). The idea is that exclusive rights on a console means that those rights apply to console classified systems only.

  2. These companies are so dumb by Apreche · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How come companies still don't get it? Sure, there aren't as many GameCubes out there are there are PS2s. But look at the sales numbers on cube games. The big hit games sell big. Soul Calibur 2 for the cube sold tons more copies than for the other two consoles. Games like "dumb movie license game 3" and "crummy sports game 20X6" don't sell crap on the cube. But they sell on the other systems.

    Why is this? Cube owners expect extremely high quality games, games that compete with the extremely high quality of games made by Nintendo. Games like F-ZERO, The Wind Waker and Smash Brothers. EIDOS and Acclaim make only shitty games, that's why they dropped the cube. Cube owners are too smart to buy that crap. Not to say PS2 owners are dumb. There are good games for the Playstation, and when they come out they sell big. But they don't sell bigger than the cube. A hit cube game sells about 1 disc per every 2 or 3 consoles out there. A hit ps2 game sells about 1 disc for every 20 or 25 consoles out there. Because of the large number of ps2 consoles, you can make money by selling crap games. Because even if every 100th guy buys your game you got cash.

    So, what does this have to do with GTA? It's a huge hit game! If they sold it for the cube they would probably sell one copy for every 2.5 cubes out there. With PS2 only, they are selling at most one copy for every 15 PS2s.

    Games companies, listen here. You can make a lot of money on the GCN, but you have to make hit games. If you are in the business of making crap, don't bother making a cube version, you're just taking up shelf space.

    Besides, all those PS2 and XboX games come out for the PC eventually anyway. That's why my money is in the cube.

    --
    The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
    1. Re:These companies are so dumb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are a couple reasons. First it is quicker to develop for one platform, and the second (and probably most important) is that when a game is exclusive the platform maker, be it sony or nintendo, gives the game maker a bigger cut of the profits. I would also suspect (though i have no proof of this) that when a company signs a deal to develop a game exclusivly for one platform they make a deal that the platform will give them a good deal on profits for other smaller, less surefire games. So by making GTA3 PS2 exclusive, Rockstar probably got a good deal on making State of emergency exclusive (for a short time) as well thus making more money on that game than they normally would have.

    2. Re:These companies are so dumb by Ondo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Name one multi-console game that has been a huge hit on the GameCube.

      Soul Calibur 2, obviously. Any others?

      Soul Calibur 2 is clearly a special case. People who own both a GameCube and PS2 and wanted Soul Calibur 2 probably bought the GameCube version. It had Link, and the PS2 version had Heihachi. People with both who want GTA probably already own it for the PS2, and even if they didn't there's not much reason to buy the GameCube version over the PS2 one.

      There's really no reason to think that GTA would be a hit on the GameCube. It would be a kiddy-hostile game on a kiddy-friendly console, coming out over a year after the original versions, and presumbably without any compelling features setting it apart from the other versions. Just being good isn't enough reason for it to sell on the GameCube.

    3. Re:These companies are so dumb by lehyeong · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Soul Calibur 2 sold so many GC copies because there are no other fighting games for the GC worth buying (except may Super Smash Bros Melee). PS2 has Virtua Fighter, Xbox DOA. If a game has no competition on it's platform, of course it'll sell bucketloads. It's called a captive audience.

      An even better example would be SEGA dropping GC versions of their high-quality sports games. Why? It's a small market with 800 lb gorilla dominating (EA). Plus the GC has no online strategy.

      As a GC owner, I'm happy that we're not getting the crap, but we're also not getting the GTAs, the Virtua Fighters, the Winning Elevens.

    4. Re:These companies are so dumb by PapaZit · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I picked up a Gamecube last winter after looking at the game market.

      Why a Gamecube? I don't buy a lot of games: maybe 1 per month. So, I'm only going to pick up 10-20 games before the console's obsolete. The question, then, was "What are the best few games, period, for each console?"

      I'm not a huge sports game fan, I don't play FPSs on a console (I use my PC for that), and I like to play console games with friends. I don't usually bother with sequels: I have Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, and I probably won't bother with Soul Calibur 2.

      Playstation 2: GTA sequel, Tony sequel, Metal Gear sequel. Damned good games, but not too compelling if you own a PSOne. Also, only two controllers. Roughly a zillion crap games that I'd never buy, except by mistake.

      Xbox: Halo, and, uh, Halo. Oh, wait. Steel Battalion (for what? $200?) and Buffy. Hardly any unique content. Plus, the damned thing is huge and Microsoft is evil.

      Gamecube: Pikmin, Starfox, Zelda, Monkeyball, Super Smash Bros., Mario Sunshine, Metroid. All of these are really good games. Really good new games only come out every month or so, but that's perfect for my buying rate. I just picked up F Zero GX and have been wearing my thumbs raw with it.

      Basically, quantity doesn't matter to me. I'm only going to buy a few games, so I want them to be good ones. The Gamecube wins that contest for me.

      --
      Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
  3. Financially Prudent? by Gr33nNight · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Lapin also stated that Take-Two currently has no plans to bring the series to Nintendo's GameCube, but will continue to evaluate the system and will release the next instalment of the franchise on other platforms after the exclusivity period ends, assuming that doing so is "financially prudent".

    In other words, if Nintendo gives us boatloads of money, we're port GTA to the GCN.

  4. Re:As a GameCube owner... by Hedonist123 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You realize of course that just because it's ported to the cube that you don't have to buy it, right? Quite frankly, I think Nintendo would be wise to try to get the GTA games on their system. Lots of people on here seem to whine that Nintendo needs to lose the kiddie image. This would be a great way to do it: release a well made game that has an adult rating. Of course they've done that with Eternal Darkness (probably my favorite cube game yet) the Resident Evil games, etc. But releasing a GTA game would probably be a high publicity way of getting the older crowd to look twice at the cube. hed.

    --
    http://goldysmom.blogspot.com
  5. Re:As a GameCube owner... by analog_line · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Lessee...

    Resident Evil 0, 1, 2, 3, and eventually 4.
    Dead to Rights
    Hunter: The Reckoning
    Bood Omen 2
    Bood Rayne
    Eternal Darkness

    Some of the most violent games released recently, all with a GameCube version. Think you'd better sell the GameCube back to the store and get yourself a used Super Nintendo or a Genesis. You're not getting the kid friendly world you're looking for with that Cube, I'm sorry to say.

  6. Stop the plague!!! by JFMulder · · Score: 3, Funny

    First PS2 people killed people, now Xbox owners are going to go on a killing spree too. Madness I tell you! Dead walking out of their graves, dogs and cats sleeping together, mass hysteria!

  7. Re:As a GameCube owner... by StocDred · · Score: 2, Funny
    RockStar can keep their violent trash off of my console, thankyouverymuch.

    And yet your /. user ID name is "MORTAR COMBAT!".