Xbox 360 gets exclusive episodic content for GTA IV
- June 18, 2007 12:21 PM PST
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If you were a console manufacturer, and you wanted some episodic content of Grand Theft Auto IV to appear exclusively on your system, how much would you pay? If you answered $50 million, you are correct.
By Eugene Huang
Rockstar's surefire blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV is coming to both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this October, but Microsoft is apparently pulling out all the stops to make sure that gamers choose their console's version this fall.
Microsoft is taking no prisoners this time around.
While parent company Take-Two Interactive indicated in its second quarter financial report that the title would be receiving episodic content within the 2008 fiscal year, nowhere did it say that the downloadable content would be delivered to the PS3. Now, new information has arisen from GamesIndustry.biz, confirming the exclusivity of the episodic content in question.
"The Grand Theft Auto IV episodic content is exclusive to Xbox 360," said an unnamed Take-Two representative.
But just how much did Microsoft fork over for the lone ownership of this content? According to a transcript of Take-Two's latest earnings call on Seeking Alpha, the total cost amounted to $50 million.
"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 will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be later in fiscal '08," said Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein, in response to a question posed by Evan Wilson of Pacific Crest Securities.
Although this content's exclusivity has effectively slipped out of Sony's hands for the time being, Take-Two still plans to support the PS3, as they have announced that their upcoming title LA Noire will also be coming to both next-gen systems sometime within fiscal 2008.
