Was the GTAIV DLC a 12-month exclusive?

By Robert Purchese Published 26 April, 2010

Stakeholders won't say, but it looks like it.

Rockstar has told Eurogamer it cannot comment on how long the Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content was exclusive to Xbox 360, although in hindsight it appears to have been a 12-month deal.

Just under 14 months elapsed between The Lost and Damned appearing on Xbox Live and its eventual appearance on PS3 this month, suggesting the deal may have been measured from the release of the first add-on (the second, The Ballad of Gay Tony, arrived relatively recently on Xbox 360 and is already available for PS3).

Microsoft also wouldn't verify the length of the exclusivity deal to Eurogamer. The platform holder reportedly paid millions and millions of dollars to secure it in 2006. Sony pointed us back to Rockstar and Microsoft.

The Grand Theft Auto IV DLC can be downloaded online or bought at retail as part of the standalone Episodes from Liberty City bundle. Check out our review of the latter to find out more.

GTAIV DLC release timetable

  • 17th February 2009 - The Lost and Damned Xbox Live release
  • 29th October 2009 - The Ballad of Gay Tony Xbox Live release
  • 29th October 2009 - Episodes from Liberty City Xbox 360 release
  • 16th April 2010 - The Lost and Damned PS3 release
  • 16th April 2010 - The Ballad of Gay Tony PS3 release
  • 16th April 2010 - The Lost and Damned PC release
  • 16th April 2010 - The Ballad of Gay Tony PC release
  • 16th April 2010 - Episodes from Liberty City PS3 release
  • 16th April 2010 - Episodes from Liberty City PC release
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Luckyjim #1 2 years ago

    Only Microsoft will know whether paying for exclusivity was worth it.

  • coolbritannia #2 2 years ago

    Pity the game was so naff it stopped me bothering with dlc.

    edit - so everyone bought it then? no one else felt GTAIV was vastly over rated?
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 15:22

  • X201 #3 2 years ago

    Rob likes typing 16 April 2010 ;)

    Its his favourite date.

  • bad09 #4 2 years ago

    Please developers and publishers end this silliness. When younger I didn't mind this exclusive rubbish as I had the disposable money to buy.....well pretty much everything (geek I know). Now I don't have that burning money I see the "exclusive" for what it is, a marketing tool. It's not the GAME, it's the platform. This bollocks has been around forever true but growing older I'm seeing it for the stupidity it is.

    Let EVERYONE who can buy and play your games you idiots.....

    EDIT - Oh and even though it has never bothered me (I don't buy that rip off crap normally), exclusive DLC sucks huge hairy monkey balls. STOP IT NOW!
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 15:11

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #5 2 years ago

    Did someone say 16th April 2010? OH!

  • Peew971 #6 2 years ago

    @ bad09 - Without exclusives there's no need for multiple consoles, they're good somehow.

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 2 years ago

    Two can play the game
    Sure Bad09 but looks at exclusives DLC that Sony secured for PS3, Batman AA Joker, Mirror's Edge DLC map and so on.

    So if we are gonna be honest and says ALL multi platform games DLC platform exclusvie stinks, THEN please let me sign on.

    Exclusive full games such as Uncharted or Halo series are different as they are part and parcel of what makes respective platform special, but mulit platform DLC... that dirty! Cos you can play the game but not WHOLE of it!

  • bad09 #8 2 years ago

    @ Peew971

    TBH these days I dunno, all this different hardware pushes OUR costs up. I'm not that bothered by hardware loyalty and all I see from different platform holders is rising cost. Gimme one box to play 'em all and I'll be sweet.

  • Pastici #9 2 years ago

    It only pushes your costs up if you feel compelled to buy everything.

  • GiarcYekrub #10 2 years ago

    I thought the reported figure that they paid was an advance of the forcasted sales on Xbox live so, to me it looked like Rockstar got a loan off Microsoft to fund development and once sales paid that off the exclusivity period ended
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 15:26

  • bad09 #11 2 years ago

    @ Pastici

    As a SMALL example...

    I like Halo/Forza/PGR/Gears = Xbox/360
    I like MGS/Uncharted/Getaway = PS1/2/3
    I like Quake 1/Crysis/Total War = PC
    I like REmake/RE0 = GC

    It's costly if you like/want certain games. Mind you I guess I could pirate or buy 2nd hand or share to save on hardware costs...oh wait they want a way to stop that stuff........

  • Peew971 #12 2 years ago

    @ bad09 - I don't know, if we only had one cable company, one phone company, one broadband provider, etc. there's no reason why the cost wouldn't go up. I guess it's the same here.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 15:32

  • spiritsnake #13 2 years ago

    one console to rule them all,one console to crush them all.
    who knows maybe such a console is deep into research and production right now, a console that will stop these console wars by wiping the floor with all of the 3 big companies machines. to be announced at this years E3.
    now that will be something special.

  • bad09 #14 2 years ago

    @ Peew971

    Well I think some dream of gaming hardware like TVs or DVDs, everyone has a standard etc and all games work on the various models, DVD hasn't risen in cost has it?

    Some speak/wish of this dream already (and in a way we have it to a extent already with PC), as time goes on I think it's the way to go.

  • flaming.carrot #15 2 years ago

    Just gone back to playing through GTAIV from scratch because of this DLC (and Trophies, which were not available first time round) - it's surprising how dated this game looks and plays now. Still pretty good fun though.

  • Shinetop #16 2 years ago

    @coolbritannia: I hadn't played GTAIV for months when TLAD came out. Frankly, that hiatus was just what the doctor ordered. The game felt fresh again and the length of the DLC was just enough so that it was over before I could get bored again.

    Never bought TBOGT, though. A shame, because apparently it's great. But everytime I consider it there's another good release around the corner so I decide not to get it after all.

  • Les #17 2 years ago

    "Now I don't have that burning money I see the "exclusive" for what it is, a marketing tool."

    I don't have an issue with exclusives per se though I dislike timed exclusives. A proper exclusive can take the specifics of the hardware platform into account. A timed exclusive is indeed nothing more than a marketing tool and doesn't add anything to the gamer, rather the contrary.

    And timed DLC exclusives are even worse. IMHO they're confusing to the consumer and should be a thing of the past sooner rather than later.

    I don't believe in a single hardware platform (as Peew971 hinted monopolies tend to drive prices up, plus there'd be little incentive for innovation) though I've stopped buying them all. Time for me is an even bigger bottleneck then money currently. I just accept that I can't have everything.

  • Skurmedel #18 2 years ago

    He's not talking about a single vendor, he's talking about a single platform. Big difference. And I agree with him in his dream, I have both a 360 and a PS3 and to be honest it is all a bit bollocks. If I could choose one of the devices based on it's own merits and not what games I can play on it I would be happy. Think Android or something.

    I think among consoles this is a utopia though; everything is already locked in.

    The same thing goes for PC/Mac, where it technically is possible if only there was more adoption of common software libraries.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 15:53

  • MaoZedong #19 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:40:08 17-12-2011

  • bluem4gic #20 2 years ago

    No Shit Sherlock!

  • hiddenranbir #21 2 years ago

    AWESOME NEWS!

  • chrisjm #22 2 years ago

    news?

  • dsmx #23 2 years ago

    Yes it was a 12 month exclusive and no it wasn't worth the 50 million price tag. It came out far to late to effect anyone's buying decisions over which console to get and it certainly hasn't made any significant profit for microsoft. They are good bit's of DLC but certainly not worth what microsoft paid for them.

  • Bravestinsane #24 2 years ago

    @coolbritannia

    "Pity the game was so naff it stopped me bothering with dlc.

    edit - so everyone bought it then? no one else felt GTAIV was vastly over rated?"

    No i also felt it was majority over rated much preferred GTA Vice City Personally

    However this DLC was one of the best valued piece(s) ever released for what you got it was incredibly cheap, the content itself rivalled new releases if you compare that to the recent shambles that was the price of the Stimulus Package for MW2 you will find GTA DLC incredible value in comparison.

    Bearing in mind i bought both months apart the cost was over a longer period of time they were without a doubt some of the best DLC i have ever bought for the money. Even if you hated GTA you can't deny that when compared to any other DLC content its value was incredible.

  • cianchristopher #25 2 years ago

    "So it appears that Purchese tried to get a news story all by himself instead of just paraphrasing something he found on the internet, but unfortunately nobody at any of the companies he contacted would answer his questions, so instead he just decided to write about there being 14 months between February 2009 and April 2010, and how 14 is nearly the same as 12.

    Fascinating stuff EG."

    Haha! He's got you there, Bertie...
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 16:24

  • superdelphinus #26 2 years ago

    saying gta 4 was overrated is a spazzy en vogue thing to say

  • Luckyjim #27 2 years ago

    GTA was a good game but I do think that it was overrated. It's never - as metacritic aggregates - the greatest game ever. I think a lot of reviewers were caught in the hype, somewhat generated by Rockstar not showing actual gameplay footage until a day before release.

    IIRC the internet was going batshit crazy for GTA when it released. Even non-gaming news sources saw fit to put it on the front pages (Guardian online, for instance). For me it was between an 8 and a 9. Still a great game by any measure, but certainly not the best.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 16:47

  • Peew971 #28 2 years ago

    dsmx: "It came out far to late to effect anyone's buying decisions over which console to get and it certainly hasn't made any significant profit for microsoft. They are good bit's of DLC but certainly not worth what microsoft paid for them."

    When the game released most people picked it up on 360 because of DLC, at the time we didn't know it would come so late so I guess it was worth Microsoft paying for it. 50 millions though, I don't know.

  • makeamazing #29 2 years ago

    The Lost and the Damned is so good that it does make the story in the original look a little boring, but i am still enjoying both...

  • Les #30 2 years ago

    "He's not talking about a single vendor, he's talking about a single platform. Big difference."

    In the sense that the latter is only realistically possible with the former. Theoretically, you're right though.

  • monkfishjoe #31 2 years ago

    @coolbritannia

    I've got to say, I agree with you about GTA4. I bought it like the millions of other people on launch day and had given up with it after about 6 weeks.

    After the initial technical marvel wore off, I realised that the missions weren't as good or as interesting as some of the older GTAs (maybe too much repetition over the series?) and some parts of the game just annoyed me - No, I don't want to go for a drink Roman, how about you shut your fat, stereotyped and annoying mouth? No, I don't want to come and pick you up girlfriendwhomaybeacop... and NO, blatent and horrible Jamacan stereotype (that is wrapped up in post modern irony), I do not want to drive you to some gangbangers house where I'll get shot at. Leave me the fuck alone to kill some grannies!

    It was such a nagging element to the game.

    I know this is going to earn me a million negs, but if I can't express a reasoned and logical opinion on this site without it being jumped on by a load of 12 year old fucktards, then I don't know why I bother with it.

    Good day, sirs.

  • aliki #32 2 years ago

    They are reviewers, not scientists. Of course they can't count.

  • Murton #33 2 years ago

    14 months is a very long time to wait for what is essentially an expansion pack, and not a very long one at that.

    The exclusivity and long wait would be bad in enough in themselves for people who were genuinely interested in this content but perhaps the most important thing about the PS3 release, which the article completely fails to mention by the way, is that the PSN price is a 50% mark up on the 1200 points equivalent in the UK. Considering that publishers are allowed to set their own prices on the PSN I find it a little insulting to be expected to pay 50% more for content that is over a year old. If you shop around you can buy GTA4 on the PS3 for less than either of the DLCs right now, and that's just wrong however you look at it.

  • lockload #34 2 years ago


    GiarcYekrub, thats what i understood aswell

    At lease accordign to analysts at the time who were on the take2 conference call they saod it was a 25m advance based on royalty sales on live

  • Iain815 #35 2 years ago

    Hang on, this shit is news?

  • balflear_pkt #36 2 years ago

    USD 50m is more than enough to make 5 games like gears of wars, microsoft isn't very smart.

  • 3william56 #37 2 years ago

    I for one would like to thank Microsoft and it's bottomless money hat for subsidising my PS3 gaming.

  • Jackface #38 2 years ago

    It's certainly news, this.

  • muscleblade #39 2 years ago

    I dont need more than one platform as even though i buy 1-2 games for my 360 each month, thats all i have the time for. Theres still many 360 games i want to play but never will because i dont have the time. Theres no exclusives on other platforms other than maybe Metroid Other M and Monster Hunter Tri that i must play and for that i use my daughters Wii. But i will only play them casually.

  • kongzi #40 2 years ago

    i can comment.. it was for a timed exclusive from the getgo.. everyone knew that.
    I don't think the episodes sold the amount of consoles MS would've liked from it.. but that's their problem.

  • Bangaioh #41 2 years ago

    Yes, complete pointless news. The game is good and so is the dlc, on both platforms. Who cares if Microsoft paid millions for a year exclusive...