*** damn thats allot, will it be worth it?? ***

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?i...

Microsoft digs deep to secure GTA IV episodic content. PS3 left out in the cold?
2 CommentsReports are emerging that, according to an earnings call with Take Two CFO Laine Goldstein, Microsoft has splashed out $50 million to get downloadable content exclusively on 360.

It's also emerged that he first batch of content for Grand Theft Auto IV will be released on 360 in March 2008.

"The first 25 million is for the first episodic content package that 's supposed to go out and that is in March of '08," Take Two CFO Laine Goldstein is reported to have said. "That's why it moved into current because it's in the next 12 months. The second 25 will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be later in fiscal '08."

Whichever way you look at it £50 million is an enormous amount of cash to splash out on episodic content, even if it is GTA. Also buried in Take Two's recent financial statement was no mention of GTA IV episodic content hitting PS3. Two and two equals five? Let's wait until E3 to find out more.

I doubt it's 50 million, Come on you can make two quality games out of this at least!! (gears of war costed 10 million + add 10 million for advertising costs roughly!) Microsoft is really stupid if this is true.
What they need to do is drop the price and people wont resist getting GTA4 for a console that costs 299 instead of one that costs 599 ... Seriously if they payed that much, they really are stupid!

EDIT: hold on a minute it says 50 MILLION GBP not Dollars which is even worse if true! My god!

it's 50million, 25million for the first episode that should be available in March '08, and another 25 million for the 2nd that will be available sometime later in '08.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/38017

no it's 50M USD. They signed the deal over a year ago, when everyone thought PS3 would be a smashing success. If Microsoft were negotiating exclusivity deal today, they would pay probably much, much less without the most sloppy negotiators on their side. But a year ago situation was completely different. Still, there's hope that the DLC will be fully fledged expansions with new islands, characters, 20 hours of story and missions, cars and all new stuff. At least I would hope for something like that if I was paying 50M USD.
Anyway, who cares, it's only crappy GTA after all ;P

Ah 50 million dollars then. Still this is really too much and to be honest I couldnt care less, GTA isnt my thing and neither is Halo for that matter .....

Yes, it is clear these 50M are for DLC:

you cared enough to click on the "GTA" thread, and even post :p
I kid, I kid.

Anyway, I sure for the big GTA fans out there this is big news--even though it was confirmed last year. Makes it pretty clear on which version is the "must buy", well I think it is. Depends on the content featured in each episode content. I doubt MS would have payed so much money for a few extra cars, missions, and body armor :P

Just hope it was worth shelling out the cash for.

E3 will be the big tell, as if its true MS have to push and market this info like mad..

Hehe. Honestly though, I dont think they are bad games, but they just dont appeal to me that's all. I think mi Sig is proof enough hehe :). Anyway back to topic. I just had a look around the sales of GTA and blowing 50 million on that downloadable content doesnt seem such a stupid thing to do after all if it gets microsoft what it wants of course, a bigger market share. We will find out soon enough.

way to much and so not worth it!

Whats happened Peter Moore couldnt get rid of his GTA IV tatoo so had to come up with something for E3. :P

Na seriously oh well Microsoft want to be the dominant force so going to try everything they can to be at front. :)

they should just buy nintendo and stop buying crap like this

I think its worth it to make sure the 360 version is the definitive version of GTA4. Something price and performance of 360 already ensured, but can't hurt to add more reasons.

but still blowing 50 million dollars is still too much. Microsoft can afford it, no doubt about that but my god this is supposed to be a business but it looks like Microsoft is trying to buy everything insight and we'll end up paying for it somehow (through their rediculous downloadable content pricing).

Think about it like this. If they're paying $50 mil just for some dlc imagine what they are doing in regards to get full fledged games?

They don't have to make $50m back solely through GTA4. Think of the additional software and hardware they will sell because the 360 has the definitive version of the game.

I would guess $50m includes advertising budget as well so people are going to be made aware which one is going to offer longer term reward.

lol at GAF. They think they added this because DVD-9 doesn't have enough space. R* even said both games will have the same original content, but the episodic content for the 360 version is just a bonus.

After what MS paid it better be....:P

lot of money for a downlaodable content. you can make atleast 2 AAA games with that amount.

lets hope the quantity and quality in these games is good. lets hopes MS doesn't overprice this contents on marketplace

For the type of money spent, look at getting this episodic content like getting Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories from the last gen. For $25 million each, in each case that is more than the cost of developing a brand new game from the ground up. Expect the size of the content to match. This is going to be a whole lot more than just a few new missions, we are looking at whole new chunks of Liberty State (not to be confused with Liberty City, which is only one city in Liberty State) per episode. It has been suppositioned in the past, that the reason Staten Island did not make it into GTA IV, was that it was going to be the extra content featured in the 360 downloads. Well looking at this new info, I think that it's very safe to say that a ****load more than Staten Island is being added to the game - which is good news by any fan's definition of the term. When it is all said and done, we could very well be looking at a next-gen version of San Andreas - on the East Coast. Honestly, for the money being spent by M$, maybe you can buy a plane ticket (remember the billboard at the start of the trailer advertising plane tickets) to Vice City or Carcer City or San Andreas. That ticket of course being the purchase of the GTA IV episodes. No matter how you look at that, just remember that Dan Houser himself said in a recent interview that the 360 DLC would be "substantial". I guess we have a much better idea of what he meant by that cryptic remark.

And as for concerns whether Sony can get in on a similar deal, I would think not, and here is why. First, it is very doubtful their network is set up to handle anything of the like; at least not yet. Second, they are already bleeding money out the *** on PS3, it is doubtful they are going to spend an additional $50 million and not get an entirely exclusive title out of the deal. Third, it's a matter of timing. If it takes Rockstar six months to make each successive GTA IV chapter for Xbox 360, and we can be pretty sure Rockstar is going to be looking to bring out GTA V in two years (October 2009), that leaves precious little time to jump from developing GTA IV and the two extra chapters for XBL, and still deliver GTA V on time. Maybe they can outsource that extra work from the Sony contract to a lesser team within the company, but that would only bring into question the quality of the Sony exclusive content. Will it be as good as the original game? And if it is not, that is just one more bullet point in a very long list of bullet points in the minds of most videogamers, of why 360 is the better purchase.

The other huge roadblock that M$ has erected for Sony in keeping them away from controlling the GTA series this gen, is that if M$ is paying $50 million just for episodic content, then the price for exclusivity of the GTA series, just went up - way up. They have affectively put the franchise fiscally out of reach for anyone to grab exclusively. Now not only would Take-Two be needed compensation for having the game series on only one system (even for a limited time), but also for the money they would have made from episodic content from said game across both consoles. They've gotta be compensated for the whole package now, and what M$ has done was make the whole package a whole lot bigger, and more expensive. Were I to guess, I'd think that something to the tune of $125 million to $200 million (per game) would have to be the current price to nab exclusivity over the GTA series and at least half those numbers for a six month, timed exclusivity. For that kind of money, you could buy an entire game studio and put them to work making a couple of GTA clones instead. What M$ has effectively done is erect a walled keep and moat complete with counter-siege engines and an endless supply lines, around the GTA franchise this gen. A lot of people no doubt will be quick to blame this whole situation on Microsoft or Take-Two or even on Rockstar Games, but actually, the fault is all Sony's. Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not revealed last year that Rockstar had kept M$' and their people at arms length as they attempted to negotiate a console exclusive deal for the GTA franchise with Sony for the PS3. It was Sony who continually rebuffed Rockstar (like Sony did to a whole lot of "used to be exclusive" developers and publishers). Eventually, out of necessity, Rockstar had to relent to M$' advances and listen to their offer. The ironic thing is, that with both Halo and now GTA being on the 360, and a price drop looming in the near future (probably just before both games release), the combination is going to be enough to give 360 so much of a lead over the PS3 in the marketplace, that Rockstar is never going to even consider extending Sony exclusivity over the franchise again.

And my final thought (at the moment) is that the $50 million paid from M$ to Take-Two/Rockstar, while not confirmation, strongly hints at a 360 price drop this calender year. $50 million is a lot to pony up to, and despite what a lot of gamers may think, M$ is not in the business of charity. They are going to charge for these new chapters, so I'm telling everyone right now, shut your pie hole about "this **** oughta be free" when you see a $20 or $30 price tag attached to it. But when you consider that Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories cost $40 each, and in theory, the new episodes for GTA IV will be along those lines in size and scope, then the price is very fair. But in order for it all to work out for M$ to break even on the $50 million they spent and even make a profit, they are going to want to boost their install base significantly to make it all worth their time and effort. You have two tiers of adoption in the way to making these extra chapters a success. The second tier being how many 360 owners purchase GTA IV. The more people who purchase GTA IV, the more people are likely to purchase the episodic content. And the first tier of course being the number of people who own Xbox 360. The number of GTA IV purchasers is highly dependent on that number. So you have to up the number of sold consoles significantly to ultimately insure that there are enough people who purchase the GTA IV episodic content to make the $50 million purchase a viable purchase that breaks even, and ultimately pays off in the form of a profit. And with Xbox 360 selling at it's all-time slowest rate (as I have pointed out several times before, they've only sold a million systems worldwide since January 1 this year), the best way to get those numbers up is a significant price drop. Build the install base now, and insure the $50 million spent on getting the GTA IV episodic content pays off in spades when it comes available. That's how this game works.

very good post^

I cant believe

WOW, just stupid. This maybe tops the rare buyout. You could make 3 new games or start up a new development team.

Each episode better add an extra 20+ hours with new content. Anyway I bet we will pay $30+ for each episode so MS gets part of that back when it is on the marketplace but other than that TakeTwo would be getting most of the profits. MS should have at least secured property rights for the two episodes.

guys they spent alot on this but they'll still make a easy profit overall with it so whats wrong??? this is good news....GOOD news