Did Microsoft pay $50 million for GTA IV content?

Haha sweet, gotta love those deep pockets.
I imagine there will be some ps3fanboys out there that will criticize this and say that M$ sucks because they couldn't secure the extra content without dropping 50 large. Who really cares though? It just shows M$ is in this for the long haul and wants to deliver the best content possible for its gamers!

WTG M$! Deep pockets FTW!

Gotta love Microsoft for paying for extra content that will only satisfy gamers even more.

Oh yea...F*** the PS3.

and guess what -- since they payed 50 million the DLC will probably be once again overpriced...hope I am wrong

i think this is fair....

after all PS3 had Harry Osborn as an exclusive character in Spider-man 3...



oh, wait, that version sucked anyways: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6171831/p-6.html

I wouldnt get too excited. Microsoft Basically took out a $50 million loan that WE get to pay back via Microsoft Points.

"The question is where did the cash come from and we can only speculate Microsoft's deep pockets had something to do with it."

Uh...who ELSE would have put up that money?

SWEEEEEET!

Ha ha ha. I'm not paying back their 'loan'...if it is a large addition to the game as downloadable content then I see no problem paying 800 points or a little more (I won't pay over 1600 points.)

If you guys think MS dropped 50 million to give us 360 fanboys a gift, you're surely mistaken. I'll be willing to bet money that Microsoft paid 50 million for the right to the content. Meaning they have the right to resell it to us, so when you see that content on the Marketplace, bet your ass that you'll have to pay for it and bet your nuts that Microsoft set the price it's selling for. Basically, instead of letting Take2 sell the content on marketplace, determine the price and then pay Microsoft a small junk of that, Microsoft decided to just outright buy the content, thus securing it exclusively and also allowing them determine the price and keep all the profits (or maybe a small portion will go to Take2 as well).


Of course all this is speculation, but it would make sense. Don't think Microsoft dropped 50 large out of the goodness of their heart, for them there is money to be made here.

If this is true, this move seems remarably dumb.

Guess who's going to eat that 50M in costs? You and me with overpriced everything from hardware accessories to marketplace content.

I couldn't give a flip about GTA4, the series is in a long road of decline. If it weren't for the "I buy for pretty graphics" suckers, this would be a marginally average release.

There will be 2 islands, the first in march 08
and.. planes (in the magazine artical it stated
that in the GTA4 game there was an unfinished bridge leading to an island.secondly, new york alone wasnt big enough for planes, but there is with 1 city and 2 islands
50 miljion well spend

This sounds very fishy. One would think that the Budget for GTA is less than 50 million dollars. Seems like allot of money to throw around for an exclusive on only the extended content. Maybe that extended content will be as substantial as say the half life episodes and then some.

wait a min, this does not mean we will have to pay this back (ms charges this to "the game" sony got out foxed).

the bottom line here is that we got exclusive content which will sell well either way, but rockstar has to make it worth our while i mean major updates not unlike crack down but more extensive.

I highly doubt this is true. If the quote is accurate, it was probably taken out of context. This report is all over the internet right now, but if anyone would use some simple common sense they'd realize that paying 50 million to secure the exclusive rights to only a couple downloadable content additions to a game is not worth fully funding the development of the actual game and more. I'm 90% sure that this news is just incorrect. 50 Million to secure exclusive on the game itself is even pushing it.

Guys, this 50 million was paid to Take-Two yes but this is not a reason to start screaming that the content will be overpriced.

First of all, this also might to secure a future exclusive game or a timed exclusive. But lets look at this. Say 5 million people buy this game for the 360. Then IF 3 million of those people download the content at $17.00 they will re-coup their losses from this deal. That was just an EXAMPLE. I don’t know what the percent of people that download content for games of games that are sold. Plus we don’t even know what the content contains.

Microsoft isn't throwing money at this to be a drunken sailor; they are seeing this as a commitment to Take 2, showing that they are willing to play ball.
Take 2 isn’t exactly swimming in money, not long ago there was talk of them being sold.

GTA on the 360 at the same time of Sony is a big deal. Sony could have locked this up as a timed exclusive LONG ago but they dropped the ball and this is MS chance to move in for the kill with Take 2 on Sony. MS needs to take every chance it can get and if that means throwing money at them right now to recoup your spending later on this content or on some other project in the future, then so be it.

I am glad that MS is being aggressive in their pursuit for games and content for my 360. I hope they continue to do so in the future so I can enjoy more games on my 360.

I know people will bitch about this content’s price, people will find something to bitch about even if it was free. I just wanted some thing on this comment thread other then “MS STEALS ALL MY MONEY” but guys, its been said before and a lot of people will continue to say it. If you think is overpriced, then don’t buy it. I’m sorry but that’s a free market, they can charge whatever they would like. If it doesn’t sell, guess what WE as the consumers have let them know that the pricing is wrong.

I've always wondered what MS does with the all the cash they rake in ripping off the uninformed consumers.

They must bring in HUGE profits selling all those cropped screenshots, wallpaper packs, and map packs that PC gamers have got and continue to get for free.

Oh, and we can't forget about the cash cow that Live is. It must cost a fortune to sell a service they don't even provide. It's like sticking a toll booth on a highway you don't even own.

Peer to Peer gaming should be free like it has always been for PC gamers. I wonder what it feels like to pay for the service your providing.. Perhaps one day the 360 gaymers will wake up and realise they are being shafted.

SCREW YOU MS!!!!!!!!!

Microsoft is init to win it guys.
Do U really think dropping 50 million is that much cash to a company like Microsoft? U think thier plan is to somehow make us pay for that? Perhaps in downloadable content they project they can get about 5 percent of that back. But seriously,50 mil, they spend more on toilet paper and water cooler services in a quarter of a year.

@jesus
wtf are you talking about? A service they don't even provide? I've had live since 2003 and it is a service, and at less then $5 a month it is quite impressive. In fact I am paid up till 2009 on my XBOX LIVE membership. So fuck your pc. I have a 7 year old pc with no desire to upgrade in the near future. This is called XBOX360Fanboy..go find a pc site or something. you guys may get some free stuff on PC but you spend alot of money upgrading. So don't give us that shit.

I LIKE THAT!

And you better believe that I'll pay for that episodic content as soon as it drops.

FUCK SONY & that piece of shit 3!

Besides if sony wanted to they could have done the same thing...oh wait they probably have are trying to with MGS4 and FFXIII.

Alls fair in Gaming and War.

@17

I am willing to pay for their service and not complain about it. So I will continue to enjoy the great service XBL is over any other console out there at this time. As long as they continue to use this money I pay to upgrade the services and content on XBL that keeps them several steps a head of Sony or Nintendo, I will continue to renew my service with them.

Until the time comes when there is a better service on the other 2 consoles for free, I will voice my opinion but not like a 10 year brat old who wants some candy.

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Gears has sold over 3 million copies. Let say GTA4 sells as many as Gears. If only a third of them downloads the 2 expansion packs (meaning a million people each time.) Microsoft would need to charge $12.50 per pack to make it's money back. That's if they do not chalk some of it up as an expense. Shivering Isle cost $30 and if this content is off a size of that or even less.....the math works. The key is how much content. If it is like a Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2 level then $20 or more would even work.
I would pay it.
Smart move M$.

It's called an investment. Gamers are gonna have to pay for the content no matter what, even if it is exclusive. The content wil cost at least $13 if Microsoft hopes to profit from the 50 mil. The bottom line is 360 users get more out of GTA IV, but at a price in addition to the game itself.

Great news, i love seeing the PS3 go from crap to crapper HAHA !! the PSN is no where near as impressive as XBLA

I think true GTA fans would buy the content no matter wat the price, also the comment about GTA being in decline, i seriously disagree, GTA3, VC and SA are in the top 10 for the best selling video games of all time, GTA4 is looking to continue this trend and already shows huge promise, but then im hugely biased towards GTA4

@Spitkicker

i couldnt agree more - i own a PC and XBOX360, PCs do enjoy alot of free stuff however to produce teh graphical quality of the 360 on a PC costs a huge sum of money. Plus lets all remmeber that when you buy a 360 game, you KNOW from the outset you'll have no worries playing it or having to tinker with settings

Speculation actually doesn't exist. All of this information comes from an official transcript of a meeting at Take-Two Interactive.

Microsoft bought the exclusive rights for Episodic Content. Microsoft is now the only company capable of adding Episodic Content to Grand Theft Auto 4.

No doubt about it, the Xbox 360 version is definitely the one to get now. Quite a few people have actually cancelled their PS3 preorders of GTA4 so they can now preorder the Xbox 360 version, now that it's confirmed the Xbox 360 version will be the only one with rumble in the controller, and the only version with Episodic Content.

The cool thing about that Episodic Content is the way each version is supposed to add 10 hours of gameplay. 20 hours of extra gameplay is a GREAT feature in the Xbox 360 copy of the game!

It's ok, when they buy Take Two in a few months it will be their money again.

i'm tired of sony fanboys talking trash about microsoft money saying that they did this just to make money because they will sell the content back to its customers well they mustn't be to bright because when sony got the exclusive for ff(i don't care by the way)do they belive sony will give them the game well if they do,then they are crazy because they are in it to make money that's why they are laying off all those people around the world because they are loosing money because of the poor sells of the ps3 so before sony fanboys say something stupid they need to realize what they are saying first because if this was sony they will sell it to them to,they just wouldn't give it to them,they might say it first but when it comes out it will have a price tag because sony always lies to the people to get them to buy their console or games on it like showing pre rendered footage then saying it's gameplay but when the game comes out the graphics is a bunch of crap that looks like it should be on a ps2 or a regular ps but after you bought it it is to late to bring back and sony done made their money

Spitkicker,

What's the difference between a gold and silver membership? Pretty much the only dif is that gold gets to play multiplayer. If every Live gaymer suddenly stopped hosting games what would happen? That's right, you'd never find a single game to play. This is because YOU uninformed twats are providing the service they're selling.

If all the voice chat, text messaging, friends list, etc features would be crippled or completely taken away from Silvers and replaced with access to the peer to peer gaming, then perhaps gold would be worth paying for. As it is now, it's a bs scam supported by challenged people such as yourself.

Prepaid until 2009? You almost sound proud of that... I'll pray for you

@ "Jesus"

Troll much?

I

@17
What are u smoking? and where can i get some? i bet if you dint smoke that shit for a week you too could enjoy Xbox Live and all of its glory