Take-Two: 'Portfolio balancing' drove GTA IV DLC delay, partnerships possible

That's a good point Copa. Although I see Gears taking most my free time by that point this year, hitting the Black Friday weekend would be good business as well as create some great marketig material.

Ahh... the culprit:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/05/grand-theft-auto-iv-dlc-delayed-until-fiscal-q1-2009/

I guess this story was soooo, like, 2hrs 22min ago...

GTA IV DLC in no way competes against GOW2.

Are you kidding?

No. How long can you play the same game? Not counting all the other versions you already bought since GTA 3.

SEriously after I beat a game, it never returns to my console, each game has a lifespan of however long it takes to beat the single player campaign and a couple multi-player missions to make sure its the same old shit as all the rest.

Look, if you get what amounts to "GTA IV: Vice City" in the DLC, that's going to be a huge seller. Especially if the story picks up with Niko after either of the two endings. You might not return to a game once you are finished, but a lot of us do. And the DLC promises to be to GTA IV what Shivering Isles was for Oblivion. And Shivering Isles was well worth returning to that game ("Who puts a cat in a bag?!? Cats HATE bags!").

What will make it even more compelling is if the DLC uses your choice from the finale to spin its story further.

Granted, we might end up with "GTA IV Stories" or some crap that's best left in the studio, but if we end up with a Vice City or San Andreas analogue, the DLC will be well worth it.

I, personally, would like to see Niko go to Vice City and go up against Tommy Vercetti. Basically, I want to see Niko as an anti-hero who is trying to dismantle the organized crime bosses who have touched his life, even in the smallest of ways.

Nor would I be surprised, given that the 360 is getting "exclusive DLC," to see that the PS3 gets the content on disc at the same time (just not on PSN). They're going to want to milk that segment of the market, too.

Well, that I'm not so sure of, at least not day and date.

I use Shivering Isles as an example because it's also a Take2 title...it launched on 360 and PC as DLC on March 27. Hit 360 on disc in October, and didn't make PS3 until November.

And that's with no exclusivity deal.

But the PS3 has larger marketshare now and more installed units. Plus, we're talking GTA and not Elder Scrolls which, while popular, isn't the money-maker GTA is.

Geoffrey where are you getting your information?

1. If the PS3 get's any DLC it will not be in the form of episodic content and nothing on the level of the 360. MS didn't give them 50mil for something that will just in turn be released on the PS3.

2. The PS3 does not have a larger marketshare now. It is about 4-6million behind the 360.

I am personally disappointed by this announcement. By all means Take2 and MS overpromise and underdeliver yet again. If this comes out anywhere near Nov-Dec there is no way I will drop the coin on it when there are so many other titles coming out.

SharpBlade:
Where are you getting your info?

Where did you get the info that any PS3 content will be guaranteed to be inferior to 360 content? Did I miss a press release?

You mean like paying $50M for exclusive DLC?

Yeah, that'd be the kind of shit we really shouldn't put up with.

Very true. The 360 DLC is exclusive to the 360. However, who is to say there isn't PS3 DLC that is exclusive to the PS3?

It may be MS didn't get the only exclusive content. If they paid $50M and didn't get a guarantee that this wouldn't be the case, then they deserve what they got.

who can spot the ps3 fanboy? seriously, wake up,the PS3 isn't getting nearly the amount of DLC that the 360 is and anything that is released on PS3 is going to be released on the 360.

Would I like the PS3 version to have the same amount of content as the 360 version? Sure! Only a muppet would say "Less is more" when it comes to content in games.

But, and you can leap to your feet and shout "Fanboy!" if you want, it's not like there isn't HOURS/DAYS of gameplay in the non-DLC version. To be honest, I like GTA and I'm enjoying playing it but there are so many other great games to play that increasing its length with DLC is lost on me.

Seriously, let's say (in a hypothetical mirror-world™) the same DLC was "somehow" released on the PS3, say, 12 months from now and it's free to download (I know this is impossible, I understand what $50M buys you these days). I would honestly say, hand on heart, the chances of me downloading it is incredibly slim. Or, I'd download it to be a completist but never play it.

This content is for GTA fanboys. People who played GTAIII for months non-stop, got the 100 packages, got the Apache, got EVERYTHING and STILL played it non-stop because they love the genre. If you're that guy for the love of God get this game on the 360 because when the DLC hits - you're going to lose your mind with new things to do.

For me, I'm not that guy so, while parity across the consoles would be great, that's not how econmics works and, in this instance, it doesn't bother me in the least that there is exclusive DLC for a console I don't own.

Just my 2c.