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Microsoft Shells Out $50 Million For GTA IV Content
Ars Technica is reporting on the highly-anticipated downloadable content for GTA IV mentioned by Microsoft at last year's E3. It appears that, first off, that content is only coming to the Xbox 360. Secondly, Microsoft paid some $50 Million for the privilege. This is from a financials conference call held by Take Two, and a question about a deferred payment from Microsoft reveals the general release schedule for the content. "The first 25 [million] is for the first episodic content package that's supposed to go out and that is in March of '08. That's why it moved into current because it's in the next 12 months. The second 25 [million] will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be later in fiscal '08."
Hey, if someone wants to pay me 50 million bucks, I'd write for any platform they want. Don't see anything wrong with that at all!
This is my sig.
Can we please refrain from using the term next gen to refer to the current generation of gaming hardware. Thanks
my band is more brutal techno punk than yours
I don't remember any big outcry when Sony used the same tactic with the same franchise against Microsoft. Sony signed exclusivity deals for GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas when the Xbox was the new kid in the game. The difference being that they were timed-exclusives. I don't think the value of the deal was ever made public, but I'm sure it was much less.
Is this karma, irony, or both? I bought a PS2 for GTA 3, and now I'll buy a 360 for GTA 4 (among other things).
Expect to shell out at least $15 a piece for each of these "episodic" updates. I suppose this is really good news for GTA addicts who have X-Box 360's. Personally, I find it a disturbing trend that Microsoft is throwing money at developers to make them develop custom content for the 360. Nintendo and Sony don't have the treasure coffers of a Operating System monopoly to get that kind of money and do likewise. Even though this relationship seems like a win-win-win for Rockstar, Microsoft, and GTA players... I still don't like the idea of Microsoft influencing how my games are made. Imagine if Microsoft paid Irrational Games $100 million for the next Bioshock game. Microsoft could say "We want you to end the game on a huge cliffhanger. Then we want the last 10 hours of the game to be an X-Box only expansion." As a PC gamer, I'd be really freaking pissed off. But if MS threw enough money at Irrational, could I blame them for not doing it? I don't like where this is going.
Is the flamethrower off yet? Okay, here goes:
IT WAS ROCKSTAR'S DECISION TO RELEASE GTA IV FOR XBOX 360.
1) This article deals with the arrangement for the chaptered content to follow, not the actual development of the core game itself.
2) Rockstar "dumbing down" the graphics of the title is both:
i) premature judgement, as you HAVENT PLAYED THE GAME YET, and
ii) a conscious decision by Rockstar to sell more games, as the 360 has 12 million units on the market.
The idea that you're actually faulting Microsoft for the XBOX's existence, and not Rockstar's decision to develop for it, as though they are some innocent victims whose hands were forced because of circumstance, is some of the most incredibly mind-bendingly misdirected hate I have ever seen in my life.
If Rockstar decided to make the game for the Wii too, is it Nintendo's fault for the game's graphical shortcomings?
Man oh man. If Rockstar had some issue with the 360, then they could have chosen not to develop for it. But at the end of the day, they obviously felt the system was powerful enough to realize the game they wanted to make. Nevermind the fact that the PC by and large is a DVD-only medium too - leaving the PS3 - the system with the weakest sales, as the only system using Blu-Ray. Also, nevermind the fact that testing has shown 360 games by and large look BETTER than their PS3 couterparts - at least for now.
If you have a problem with the XBOX 360's hardware not meeting your tastes, that is fine - don't buy it. But at least 12 million people disagree with you, and Rockstar knows that.
- Scott
HA HA, that funny, but I'm that anyone is suprised by this, Sony had Rockstar by the balls with the GTA series, that the games had to be released on the PS2 first and anything else months later. Now that over, and MS decided to do the smart thing and steal one of the PS biggest franchised right out from under them, with this extra content, does anyone here even think that Rockstar gives a krap what system their game sells on, if the console maker is throwing money at them, and the game is sure to sell on it.
That makes no sense.
The 360 game disc format is a Dual Layer DVD, 7GB... but honestly, with more and more cinematics moving to the game engine, that's not a limitation. I really don't understand what you are trying to say with your nonsensical quotation of "Storage" that has no basis in reality.
Want to know what's going on here?
Microsoft can't get the exclusive on GTA IV, so they are going for an exclusive on the expansion - a very smart thing to do. It has NOTHING to do with disc capacity, understand? Microsoft will make a mint on the Content downloads, and 360 owners will be happy that they get additional content not available on any other platform.
Content is intended for owners with a hard drive (20GB or 120GB drives) and a broadband Live connection. What's new about this? Sony required a hard drive for some games on the PS2... GTA fanatics will gladly pony up the cash for an Elite or replace their Premium 20GB drive with a 120GB drive.
I honestly can't understand why people bitch about Microsoft's downloadable content charges (or Sony's for that matter), unless the costs are excessive for the user. Reasonably priced Live downloads are good business, and until it gets cracked, it's a very solid model for everybody.
Its legal.
Illegal tying requires tying two products from two seperate markets together. There is nothing preventing Microsoft from using its resources gained from Windows to buy its way into the Games/Console market under US law (EU law is much more strict, though I don't know the answer in that case). Of course, if Microsoft becomes a monopoly in the game console market, this practice could be seen as anticompetitive and a violation of the Sherman Act, but it still wouldn't be tying, as consoles and games are probably not in seperate markets.
Sorry, you don't have a clue. The PS3 GPU actually under-performs the Xbox360 GPU.
Can we please refrain from using the term next gen to refer to the current generation of gaming hardware. Thanks
Sure - right after the sales of either the PS3 or 360 can exceed last get hardware (specifically the PS2) for at least three months.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If they couldn't keep the content of the "Hot Coffee" fiasco hidden I'm sure it won't be too difficult for someone to liberate this XBOX 360 only content and slide it over to at least the PC version. Heck, for the chance to mess with an XBOX 360 exclusive I may look into the idea myself.