Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes of Liberty City Headed to PS3 and PC

[Queasy]

Microsoft has been intent on giving the Xbox 360 exclusives over its primary competition, the Playstation 3. One of the more notable and odd announcements was the expansion pack "episodes", 'The Lost and Damned' and 'The Ballad of Gay Tony' for Grand Theft Auto IV. Microsoft reportedly paid $50 million for these two expansion packs to come to the Xbox 360 first as timed exclusives. Now it is time to see if Microsoft got its money's worth because Rockstar Games has just announced that the two episodes are coming to the Playstation 3 and the PC via Games for Windows Live.


Both episodes will be released on March 30th, 2010 for $19.99 for each episode. Games for Window Lives purchasers will also get 32 player multiplayer matches along with an "advanced video editor."

The Lost and Damned is a dark trip through Liberty City’s seedy underbelly as outlaw biker, Johnny Klebitz, fights to keep his gang together as a rift in the gang’s leadership threatens to tear the brotherhood apart. In The Ballad of Gay Tony, players explore Liberty City’s high-end nightlife as Luis Lopez, struggling to balance the temptations of money and vice against loyalties to family and friends. Both episodes feature a slew of new vehicles and weapons, and each episode adds new activities including cage fighting, gang wars and BASE jumping.
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[gorcorps]

lolz, I still haven't finished Lost and Damned

 

[Kromis]

They got their moneys worth out of that deal, I would guess.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

I want the Gay Tony. I liked the GTA4 tech but I hated the foreigner story.

 

[JoPh]

still on my 'i want to play list'

 

[fatpat268]

lolz, I still haven't finished Lost and Damned

Me neither. Gay Tony was good, but I just can't find the interest to finish Lost and Damned.

I have GTA4 on the PC, and I'll probably rebuy one of the expansions again. :\

 

[Dari]

They got their moneys worth out of that deal, I would guess.

How do you figure? That $50m could've gone to making a Mechwarrior game for the 360 or paying for another exclusive. Considering Microsoft's entertainment division lost money last quarter, it doesn't sound like a wise investment...

 

[erwos]

How do you figure? That $50m could've gone to making a Mechwarrior game for the 360 or paying for another exclusive. Considering Microsoft's entertainment division lost money last quarter, it doesn't sound like a wise investment...

It was supposedly an advance - so unless the publisher didn't make $50m in royalties, I doubt there was money lost. The advance is what netted them the exclusive - after all, money now is worth more than money later.

Also, the entertainment division actually had a ~300% increase in profits on an 11% revenue decrease. While the revenue loss isn't great, calling it "losing money" is pretty much the exact opposite of reality. Their margins went up considerably, in fact. But, hey, don't let facts get in the way!

 

[Kromis]

How do you figure? That $50m could've gone to making a Mechwarrior game for the 360 or paying for another exclusive. Considering Microsoft's entertainment division lost money last quarter, it doesn't sound like a wise investment...

Although I don't know exactly how much Episodes (or either DLC packs) sold, I was assuming that they knew what they were doing and that they would profit from investing in this but who knows! That might have paid off with more 360s sold!

I agree with you that the $50M could have gone towards making a game or an exclusive (there's already a Mechwarrior game coming out for 360 and PC :awe If only they started up more first-party studios...

 

[Dari]

It was supposedly an advance - so unless the publisher didn't make $50m in royalties, I doubt there was money lost. The advance is what netted them the exclusive - after all, money now is worth more than money later.

Also, the entertainment division actually had a ~300% increase in profits on an 11% revenue decrease. While the revenue loss isn't great, calling it "losing money" is pretty much the exact opposite of reality. Their margins went up considerably, in fact. But, hey, don't let facts get in the way!

They lost revenue but I also thought they lost profit as well. Looks like it was their 'online' division. Not sure where XBOX live fits in though. Either way, the $50m is probably worth more today if deflation is taken into account. But even if it isn't, instead of throwing money around to third parties, MS would do better for itself by creating or beefing up its IPs.

 

[erwos]

They lost revenue but I also thought they lost profit as well. Looks like it was their 'online' division. Not sure where XBOX live fits in though. Either way, the $50m is probably worth more today if deflation is taken into account. But even if it isn't, instead of throwing money around to third parties, MS would do better for itself by creating or beefing up its IPs.

You're missing the point, though - the money was an advance on royalties. They would have paid it either way, and by paying it up front, they got a timed exclusive. The deflationary or inflationary costs of that money were negligible, and the idea that they somehow negatively impacted Microsoft's long-term investments into first-party IP seems doubtful at best.

 

[Dari]

You're missing the point, though - the money was an advance on royalties. They would have paid it either way, and by paying it up front, they got a timed exclusive. The deflationary or inflationary costs of that money were negligible, and the idea that they somehow negatively impacted Microsoft's long-term investments into first-party IP seems doubtful at best.

The deflationary statement was a response to your inflationary statement, which is even more so considering the current financial crisis. As for Microsoft IPs, they're heavily reliant on Halo and their others are ok compared to the other two first party publishers. IMHO, this is why Microsoft does these timed exclusives. I never hear about Nintendo or SONY paying third parties for timed exclusives. Microsoft does it often. I think it's just a lazy and short-sighted way to boost sales. They need to invest in their IPs instead. $50m can easily start a new franchise.

 

[Kromis]

Until Sony is dangerously close to overtaking them, Microsoft is not going to do anything

 

[herkulease]

The deflationary statement was a response to your inflationary statement, which is even more so considering the current financial crisis. As for Microsoft IPs, they're heavily reliant on Halo and their others are ok compared to the other two first party publishers. IMHO, this is why Microsoft does these timed exclusives. I never hear about Nintendo or SONY paying third parties for timed exclusives. Microsoft does it often. I think it's just a lazy and short-sighted way to boost sales. They need to invest in their IPs instead. $50m can easily start a new franchise.

You don't hear it because they probably didn't throw them 50 million. That and GTA franchise has this rep that well someone will put out the news regardless of how much money was thrown at rockstar.

Virtua Fighter 5 was a timed exclusive on the ps3. As is ghostbusters in europe though the ghostbusters thing might be a film rights issue.

Haze was original a ps3,pc and 360 release that went ps3 only.