Take-Two refuses to clarify USD 50 million GTA IV deal

By Games Industry.biz Published 19 June, 2007

Moneyhat origin unclear.

Take 2 has refused to clarify comments from chief financial officer Laine Goldstein that suggest the publisher received USD 50 million (EUR 37.3m / GBP 25.2m) from Microsoft for exclusive GTA IV episodic content, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

During a recent conference call Goldstein stated that the struggling publisher has secured the advance sum, although Microsoft was not mentioned specifically.

"The first 25 is for the episodic content package that's supposed to go out and that is in March of '08," revealed Goldstein.

"The second 25 will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be after in fiscal '08."

When contacted by GamesIndustry.biz, Grand Theft Auto label Rockstar declined to comment further on any details of the deal.

Although due for release on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, it is only recently that publisher Take 2 has clarified that additional episodic content for GTA IV will appear exclusively for Microsoft's home console.

Read GamesIndustry.biz for your daily dose of refusals to comment on rumour and speculation.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • zuljin #1 5 years ago

    Well I wouldn't mind it coming out on both really, but I'm wondering what they're planning to charge for it.

  • SeesThroughAll #2 5 years ago

    I'll probably still play the game, it's a bit less money they'll get from me though.

  • Steroyd #3 5 years ago

    Hmmmm....

  • agparrot #4 5 years ago

    "struggling publisher"

    Really? What is that all about? Is it the investment required to fund the games these days? The great length of time between the release of GTA titles? Slightly disconcerting that a publisher with a flagship title as strong as GTA in sales terms is 'struggling'.

    As for the $50 mil - I don't see any point in 'refusing to clarify' comments about two payments of $25 million related to episodic content - it isn't like it could be being paid to them for anything else, is it?

    Or are Microsoft and TT just trying to play down the fact that a Moneyhat exists? Are we supposed to believe they are developing exclusive episodic 360 content for free, perhaps?

  • Inquisitor #5 5 years ago

    They were speculating on 1up that this payment was a 'sweetner' to entice take 2 to sell to MS.

    Its no secret that take 2 are struggling and I believe they're looking for a buyer, wouldn't be a surprise to see MS as the ones who step in.

  • SeesThroughAll #6 5 years ago

    Yes, it's a marketing thing. It was a pay-off, pure and simple. But the notion that "they want to support the coolest platform more" is better marketing for the XBox brand.

    Worked for PS2 in the past, didn't it?
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/07 @ 11:42

  • stuarty_2003 #7 5 years ago

    If they bought Take 2 they might release another Links game. That would please me.

  • dadrester #8 5 years ago

    i wonder how exclusive this stuff will be. time based exclusivity like the gta games on ps2 going to xbox or psp to ps2, or exclusive forever.

  • Inquisitor #9 5 years ago

    For $50 mil you can bet it'll be exclusive forever.

    Theres more behind this payment than meets the eyes in my opinion though, its just too much for downloadable content.

  • The-Bodybuilder #10 5 years ago

    For that money, MS would have been better off securing a time exclusive.

    Most poeple don't (and probably aren't) gonna know about these episodic contents.

  • Steroyd #11 5 years ago

    50 mil is almost as much as a next gen game in itself I don't see the content being bargain priced on XBLM if past third party content prices are anything to go by.

  • The-Bodybuilder #12 5 years ago

    IMO, MS shouldn't buy TT. TT aren't THAT talented, and the only needed games are bioshock and GTA IV.

    Buying the entire TT just for those two isn't worth it, especially when both are alreay on the system (one an exclusive, the other with episodic content).

  • agparrot #13 5 years ago

    Theres more behind this payment than meets the eyes in my opinion though, its just too much for downloadable content.

    Yeah it makes you wonder... I see that it is good to make the 360 seem coolest... but do you really think MS are paying $50 million dollars to essentially associate the 360 as being the home of GTA?

    Isn't that a bit of a risk? I mean I know GTA is a system-selling, sales-busting gargantuan of a product, but what if this move, presumably intended as a kick to the progress of the PS3, doesn't pay off?

  • SeesThroughAll #14 5 years ago

    Didn't they buy Bungie for Halo? Just one game...
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/07 @ 11:54

  • Les #15 5 years ago

    "Theres more behind this payment than meets the eyes in my opinion though, its just too much for downloadable content."

    It does seem rather high but as the payments are reflected in the P&L statement, they can’t be for stocks or anything. So it’s for services that Take 2 delivers to probably Microsoft. Given the high amount, I bet MS paid off Take 2 for the downloadable content (so paid for both development cost and potential revenues). So MS can offer it for free through Live or choose to recoup some (or all) of that 50 million by charging for it.

  • agparrot #16 5 years ago

    So MS can offer it for free through Live or choose to recoup some (or all) of that 50 million by charging for it.

    I wonder which choice MS will opt for?

  • Darren #17 5 years ago

    Sounds very much like Half-Life 2 with its episodes to me so I wouldn't expect that to cost more than $20 each but knowing how the Marketplace works, it'll likely be in the region of 2400 points (over £20). It remains to be seen what these episodes will contain, presumably they'll still be set in Liberty City and won't be new areas due to the way the game has been designed? That means they'll amount to new missions with perhaps new vehicles and little else. Obviously, it's an excellent way of getting people to buy the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV, the promise of more content to keep your playing the game for a year, but I can't shake off the feeling that the PS3 will be the definite version and likely the one I'll end up buying anyway.

  • Vin #18 5 years ago

    "For $50 mil you can bet it'll be exclusive forever.

    Theres more behind this payment than meets the eyes in my opinion though, its just too much for downloadable content."

    Indeed.

    "IMO, MS shouldn't buy TT. TT aren't THAT talented, and the only needed games are bioshock and GTA IV.

    Buying the entire TT just for those two isn't worth it, especially when both are alreay on the system (one an exclusive, the other with episodic content)."

    Look at the T2 site.

    Some MAJOR franchises could be made exclusive for the 360.

    Roll on E3.

  • Caspar_Esq. #19 5 years ago

    "Didn't they buy Bungie for Halo? Just one game..."

    Yes, but they bought Bungie before Halo was ever made. That was the point, to buy a developer who could produce a system selling title.

    GTA is a dead dog walking IMO and a waste of time/money.

  • bushwod #20 5 years ago

    Well that news should shut up the "it' DLC because xbox 360 doesn't have a blu ray drive" Sony fan boys.

    Of course this content may well appear later on PS3 but it's another good investment by M$.

  • Darkedge #21 5 years ago

    yes they bought Bungie while Halo was in development, but Bungie = developer and Take 2 = Large Publisher.

    A bit different

    50 mill is probably for episodic content exclusive AND GTA4.5 (vice city/san andreas) sort of thing exclusive, maybe even gta5 360 exclusive. Wouldn't surprise me if GTA4 is the last GTA game that the PS3 gets for a few years
    Edited by 2 at 19/06/07 @ 12:11

  • penhalion #22 5 years ago

    GTA may be a cash cow franchise but, it's a hardcore one. As a result, they pretty much hung the whole company on it. The problem with these franchises is that sales go down as well as up. Recall scandals like hot coffee cause sales to slump dramatically (parents finally called on their stupidity in buying little Johnny GTA for christmas) etc etc.

    Basically hardcore gamers and fanboys have given GTA a status well above what it actually commands amongst the ordinary buying public. It certainly doesn't sell in nearly enough quantity to keep a major publisher like Take 2 in the green.

  • Les #23 5 years ago

    “Obviously, it's an excellent way of getting people to buy the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV, the promise of more content to keep your playing the game for a year, but I can't shake off the feeling that the PS3 will be the definite version and likely the one I'll end up buying anyway.”

    Like I said in a different thread, downloadable content will pretty much only impact the hardcore gamers. The more casual gamer will probably not even know about it. So it’s a great move to keep current 360 owners from getting a PS3 as well or getting the PS3 version if they already own the console.

    I’d be amazed if the PS3 version will be more advanced than the 360 version. Might have uncompressed audio and stuff like that but other than that, they’ll probably turn out identical. Why do you have the feeling the PS3 version will be the best?

  • lennon #24 5 years ago

    @agparrot - Normally the answer would be easy but the success of Crackdown and its DLC may just influence any decisions there.

    @Darren - Why would the ps3 be the difinitive version? Have I missed something?

  • zuljin #25 5 years ago

    @Caspar_Esq.
    "Yes, but they bought Bungie before Halo was ever made. That was the point, to buy a developer who could produce a system selling title."

    Nope. Halo was in development for Mac/PC simultaneously before Microsoft acquired them.

  • lennon #26 5 years ago

    @Les - I think your right about DLC and the hardcore gamer but MS would be daft not to make this content available via more traditional channels wouldnt they? Then it would be right in the face of every consumer choosing which console to buy.

    Surely the kind of money we are talking about here says expansion pack rather than a few free vehicles?
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/07 @ 12:18

  • meepster2312 #27 5 years ago

    Dont know if anyone has commented on this yet, but I guess Rockstar will need all the money they can get now that Manhunt 2 has been banned in the UK
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/07 @ 12:23

  • ruckus #28 5 years ago

    Manhunt 2 has been banned - wtf? :(

  • lennon #29 5 years ago

    Has it been banned or are some retailers just not stocking it?

    Was still on the gameplay site this morning.

  • agparrot #30 5 years ago

    @lennon - Yeah the Crackdown DLC could change the way they look at it... but did Microsoft bundle up millions of dollars for its development?

    @penhalian - wow, thanks for the insight - I had just assumed that with it being such a monster franchise that is was big enough to keep somebody afloat.

    If GTA isn't big enough, then what franchises are? Or is my perception just skewed, like you say, by hardcore/fanboy opinion?

  • agparrot #31 5 years ago

    As for Manhunt - the BBFC have refused to give it a rating, cuz it is too much, apparently - there is a post about it here on the EG Forums.

  • zuljin #32 5 years ago

    @meepster2312
    Really?

    Play.com is still selling Wii/PS2/PSP versions for now. I could understand possibly the Wii version getting banned, since you physically recreate murder actions, but still.

    Certainly looks like the UK is going the way of the US...

  • alpha-0ne #33 5 years ago

    Keep up eurogamer.. Michael Patcher the Morgan securities analyst has already clarafied this, the $50m is an advance on the episodic content with part one being released in March 08 and part two 6 months later.

    If the revenue is less than $50m from the episodic content (which MS keps 30% of) then take2 pay MS some of the adavance back..

    This game will easily sell at least as many copies as gears of war on 360 (currently 5m copies sold) so it will easily make $50m in sales on the DLC in my opinion as its expected be be new areas of new york

    This deal keeps the 360's version of GTA4 in the spotlight until at least xmas 2008..
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/07 @ 12:39

  • stuarty_2003 #34 5 years ago

    It's a bung.

  • The-Bodybuilder #35 5 years ago

    >"Didn't they buy Bungie for Halo? Just one game..."

    1. Buying bungie definately wasn't as expensive as rare, or buying TT.
    2. They bought bungie when they had nothing at all. Now they've got some strong franchises to thier name.
    3. What they bought bungie for, in comparison to what the got out was DEFINATELY worth it.
    4. Bungie had talent (Marathon 1 & 2) before Halo. I can understand MS buying certain devs from TT, but not the entire company.

  • barnard666 #36 5 years ago

    GTA IV will be so huge that I can't see enough people getting to a stage where they ned new content!
    find all secret packages for 50 acheivment points will keep people going...however! buy a secret package tracking device for 200 MS points...and they may be on to something! you'd have to get a zero points acheivemnt though "purchased the tracker" or something, to keep the poeple who did it for real happy...I;d actually buy this for crackdown, despite being a rip off,m those last 20 agility orbs are really pissing me off now, particularly since the download has added all these extra pieces of crap to the HUD that get in the way.

  • Steroyd #37 5 years ago

    If the episodic content doesn't involve extra islands or something like that then MS have wasted their money IMO.

    The Story progression is mostly used to unlock all the minigames, vehicles, and the rest of the map to go play around in, there's temporarily memorable characters here and there but not enough to make you go play through the storyline again.

    To me Rockstar have to get the main game right before i buy it at full price, let alone episodic content GTA:SA was nothing to shout about, and Liberty City Stories gave me too much of a sense of deju vu, that I didn't even bother to get Vice City Stories at all (a first for me), and now GTA IV is supposed to go back to Liberty City but different?

    *sigh*

  • The-Bodybuilder #38 5 years ago

    I still don't think it was worth it IMO.
    But I guess we should see these episodes more as the "stories" (vice city stories, liberty city stories) for GTA 4.

  • Darren #39 5 years ago

    @Les - "Why do you have the feeling the PS3 version will be the best?"

    I dunno... something that Rockstar have said about finding it a struggle to fit Xbox 360 games onto a single DVD makes me think this is the reason for the downloadable content in the first place, i.e. it's stuff that wouldn't fit on the disc. I'm not saying that the PS3 version will have it, rather that the limited size of the DVD format means that the PS3 version has had to be cut down too but I'm still thinking that the graphics and sound might be of a higher quality on the PS3 and that there might be more radio stations, etc. OK so it's wouldn't be enough to have Xbox 360 complaining but for me it would be enough to persuade me to go for the PS3 version. I guess we'll just have to see, it may well be that both games will be identical...

  • RazorObsession #40 5 years ago

    Soooo.... a cool 50million dollars for two bits of downloadable content. how much does that work out in MSpoints?

  • Steroyd #41 5 years ago

    It'll cost you a table for bending over on and a tub of Vaseline.

  • Les #42 5 years ago

    "If the episodic content doesn't involve extra islands or something like that then MS have wasted their money IMO."

    Only if too few people buy it. Seems like MS expects the deal to fund itself which might very well be an accurate assessment.

  • skillian #43 5 years ago

    Heh, 4 billion MS points.

    Bargain.

  • mkreku #44 5 years ago

    The conspiracy dude in me is thinking Microsoft came with this proposal: "Here, Take Two, take this truckload of money to make sure there are framerate problems, blurry textures and glitchy sound on the Playstation 3 version of the game!".

    I know I'm wrong but I'm scared :(

  • Les #45 5 years ago

    "Microsoft wants us all xboxed. Money can't buy me, sorry Saint Pete."

    Like Sony wants us all playstationed and Nintendo wants us all Wii-d. That's capitalism for you.

  • cyber_nicco #46 5 years ago

    "Play.com is still selling Wii/PS2/PSP versions for now. I could understand possibly the Wii version getting banned, since you physically recreate murder actions, but still.

    Certainly looks like the UK is going the way of the US..."

    Uh, what games did the US ban?

  • zuljin #47 5 years ago

    @cyber_nicco
    "Uh, what games did the US ban?"

    Sorry didn't come out clear, was more refering to the fact that there seem to be more and more occasions (ala US) whereby a game comes out, and theres a huge controversy in the Daily Mail to - "ban this sick filth". I never see this controversy generated on the continent, tho thats only ever France and Belgium.

  • Les #48 5 years ago

    “Yes, Les, but 50 mln for two downloadable episodes is laughable.”

    Like alpha-0ne pointed out (and I assumed) MS shares in the revenues. Apparently they get 30% of revenues. So if revenues are 50 million they will have paid 35 million for the downloadable content. I agree that still doesn’t sound like a good investment. But of any extra revenues they’ll still get 30% effectively lowering the cost of the DLC.

    I’d expect $10 is the maximum price the average consumer would pay for a single episode. It’ll ‘only’ take 2.5 mln purchases of both episodes to get to the $50 mln. I don’t know what normal attach rates are for downloadable content but I’m sure MS did some calculations on this and expects to sell many more DLC’s or at a higher price.

    I’d be amazed if GTA IV was as heavy on the content side as ‘last gen’ (for the sake of a better word) GTA’s were. This will probably be one of the many instances in which gamers will have to pay more to get the same or less (although in this case PS3 owners can only pay the same and just get less).

  • davisorle #49 5 years ago

    At least MS has the nuts to use any kind of 50 millions more on anything they want to. Sony is still chewing on her own nuts since the Blu-Ray costed them so much but yet nothing to play on the PS3. And I don't think that Sony's president retired when they were about to make so much money with the PS3, did he?

  • Gl3n #50 2 years ago

    Remember when everyone kept going on about moneyhats?