What we know about GTA IV DLC

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 April, 2008

As Microsoft goes into PR overdrive.

With GTA IV available today, Microsoft is continuing its campaign to remind people that Xbox 360 offers unlockable Achievements and will have downloadable content later this year.

The platform holder's PR chorus has hit crescendo in recent weeks, reminding journalists about Achievements and DLC, and continued its assault this morning, targeting critics likely to be asked to appear on mainstream radio and TV broadcasts discussing the game's launch.

The DLC is "absolutely exclusive" to Xbox 360, a spokesperson reiterated. As you can see from the ads Microsoft's bought up all over the Internet, it's due out in the autumn.

But what do we actually know about it? In concrete terms, not a lot. "Exclusive episodic content" has been mentioned ever since the original DLC announcement at E3 in May 2006, with Xbox.com subsequently describing "two distinct episodes, both downloadable from Xbox Live and each a minimum of 10 hours long".

Elsewhere, A recent CVG Special magazine speculated that Rockstar was aiming to have entire "cities" as DLC, but in an interview with Edge recently the game's executive producer Sam Houser mentioned what could be side missions:

"In the game, you might be walking around and then someone will come up to you and say something like, 'Hey, I need your help', and you'll be like, 'What? this isn't a story mission', and he'll be like, 'You see that room up there? That's my wife and she's f****** some bloke, and I need you to go and do...' and this little story will unfold from there just randomly," he said.

However, he went on to say that, "for the downloadable content in general, it's about seeing how people get turned on by the game, and then we will tailor the production".

Whatever's going on with DLC though, it's likely to have to wait for a while, as we understand Rockstar North staff have been given five weeks off in some cases to recuperate after finishing the game.

For more on GTA IV, check out our 10/10 review.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (34) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • DUFFMAN5 #1 4 years ago

    Who cares what it is, just give us more, more and then some more on top of that.

  • rhinoxious #2 4 years ago

    A well deserved five weeks I imagine, the staff must be shattered.

  • Moz #3 4 years ago

    Only 5 weeks off!! I remember when production teams would get a 3 month break after a project this big (normally cos they would have had next to no time of for 2 to 3 years!

  • syphaa #4 4 years ago

    Time to put on the slippers. I wonder if any of them will be completing GTA4 in their spare time :)
    The fresh content will definitely bring a happy smile to everyones face when the SP starts to get a bit old hat!

  • sanctusmortis #5 4 years ago

    So what you're saying is, you don't know.

    Great!

  • DFawkes #6 4 years ago

    @sanctusmortis

    Only when I read your post did I realise how rubbish an article it is. Eurogamer doesn't know. CVG doesn't know, but claim to know by suggesting all the likely possibilities.
    In other news, a Sony rep doesn't know some stuff, but can't report on his not knowing as he doesn't know what it is he doesn't know.

  • X201 #7 4 years ago

    @sanctusmortis
    Yeah but at least they've actually admitted it rather than go down the route of almost every other website in saying "DLC it going to be/might be/could be this"
    They've stated the facts, no one except MS and Rockstar know what the DLC is. The public haven't even been told which of the many definitions of "Exclusive" MS are using.

  • Raz76 #8 4 years ago

    So, what they're saying is, it could be Taxi Driver?

  • dsmx #9 4 years ago

    They can hype it all they want, however in 6 months time most people won't care about GTA4 any more and will of moved on to the big games being released in the Autumn.

  • X201 #10 4 years ago

    As regards the DLC...

    "there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

  • ps3owner #11 4 years ago

    I wonder how much they'll charge for the "EXCLUSIVE" download.

  • belziah #12 4 years ago

    What we know about GTAIV dlc.

    Absolutely fuck all.

    Journalism at its pinnacle.

    Tomorrow, GTA IV ate my cat! The harrowing true tale.

  • Mullet94 #13 4 years ago

    The DLC could be whole cities? We'll have to buy a 120gb for DLC as well as forking out mega MS points so that they can recoup their massive over payment to Rockstar for the DLC.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #14 4 years ago

    They can hype it all they want, however in 6 months time most people won't care about GTA4 any more.

    I would bet you a considerable amount of money that GTA 4 is in the Christmas top 10 this year.

  • jonsaan #15 4 years ago

    Speaking personally. I have never EVER got 100% in a GTA game. So I'd be unlikely to require any additional content.

  • Benno #16 4 years ago

    atleast 20 hours of DLC is monumental

    and why the whole "i never complete to a 100% anyway" angle is stupid. I never complete 100% but I still complete the story missions and i am really interested in trying out this content.

    and the game is awesome

  • monkie_king #17 4 years ago

    jonsaan: that's cos hunting for hidden packages and doing Ambulance missions is dull. Brand new bits of story and proper missions are not. You don't have to 100% the game to make use of DLC.

  • themorganator #18 4 years ago

    I'm no sure, but I get the opinion that all the people saying they're not interested in more content for this game are PS3 owners.

  • Buztafen #19 4 years ago

    ^^^FLAME ON!!!

  • warthog2k #20 4 years ago

    Hehe - give it 6 months and all the DLC will be bundled with the (probably poorly ported again) PC Version for free.

  • monkie_king #21 4 years ago

    Yeah, those grapes are probably sour anyway.

  • Xerx3s #22 4 years ago

    "I wonder how much they'll charge for the "EXCLUSIVE" download."

    Do the math. 2 episodes. 50 million. 25 million per episode. Let's say that they aim for 2 million downloads per episode. 1200 points+.

  • Totoriko #23 4 years ago

    5 weeks to play GTAIV, superb! :)

  • hoos30 #24 4 years ago

    X201: Brilliant! That's one of my favorites quotes. Good ole Rummy. Well, not really "good", but entertaining nonetheless.

  • miiiguel #25 4 years ago

    "Hehe - give it 6 months and all the DLC will be bundled with the (probably poorly ported again) PC Version for free. "
    Give it 4 years, and GTA 4 will cost 10 pounds...

  • The-Bodybuilder #26 4 years ago

    >"As you can see from the ads Microsoft's bought up all over the Internet"

    Including our very own Eurogamer.

  • The-Bodybuilder #27 4 years ago

    @X201

    I see someone else is also a fan of the boondocks. :)

  • Madlax #28 4 years ago

    They,l never tell you what is it exactly, because telling you defeats the 'purpose' of the DLC in the first place.

    The DLC is simply something to function as a bullet point against the PS3 version, Microsoft as usual 'Hypes' without telling you what is it, and the naive public also gets hyped without understanding what the DLC is.

    Thanks to Sam houser now we know its Extra missions on the same city, Microsoft cant be very happy...they want you to believe the new packs will be the size of Texas.

    Glad to see all that money microsoft 'earns from windows is been well-spent on brainwashing (eurogamer),s.

    And i said (eurogamers), not to be confused with our eurogamer, god forbid Microsoft from brainwashing our beloved eurogamer....thats simply not possible. ;)



  • Dizzy #29 4 years ago

    /Waves bye bye to Madlax

    They have places for people like you... and they involve pillows. Join the ignore crowd.

    If the DLC is like Shivering Isles I will be a happy man.
    Edited by 2 at 29/04/08 @ 17:19

  • vegard #30 4 years ago

    wait, is it the game or the review that's 10/10?

  • CreepinJesus #31 4 years ago

    The DLC is exclusive to Xbox... but it doesn't say the content is... So Sony will release the add-on pack as a separate disc probably, what with the installing and such.

    That's the big difference between these consoles: on Xbox, we download our add-ons and demos; but with PS3, Sony charge you £20 for demos (GT5) and DLC is something they only talk about.

  • 3william56 #32 4 years ago

    New cities my arse.

    "drive here, pick up X, go to Y, shoot Z" x 1000 I think. Loving GTA - 10/10 well deserved, but think I've already got more than enough to be going on with. Would like to play at least one other game this year.

  • RustyBullet #33 4 years ago

    I normally find GTA a bit meh. But this one has got me by the balls and is giving tham a good hard yank. I love it... Me and a mate were jus pissing arround on it for arround 2 hours last night in free mode and all i can say is fucking awesome.
    Edited by 1 at 30/04/08 @ 13:42

  • Prodigy_BE #34 4 years ago


    Look, if we want to do something about this questionable journalism, we have to unify

    All who agree that GTA IV's 10/10 score (and all the other high press scores) is just wrong, join this group.
    [link url=http://ga mers.eurogamer.net/groups.php?g...
    ]http://ga mers.eurogamer.net/groups.php?g...[/link]

    The fantastic GTA IV is not perfect group!

    Fight the Power!