Remember when Microsoft reportedly paid $50m for the sole rights to the first Grand Theft Auto IV content pack The Lost & Damned? Well rumours are beginning to circulate which suggest their exclusivity period will expire shortly, and that PlayStation 3 owners will soon be able to enjoy the expansion themselves.An article published in the latest PSW magazine suggests that Microsoft's lucrative deal had only earned them 6 months worth of exclusivity, which is due to expire in a little over 3 months time. Further more, reports indicate that Sony will be offering the downloadable content to PS3 owners as early as August 20th on the PlayStation Network Store.
The video game industry has always been a little dubious of the deal, which was sealed before GTA IV had even hit shelves. Specific details surrounding the arrangement have never surfaced, with conflicting information and stories leading many to believe that the episodic download would eventually make its way onto PlayStation 3 one way or another.
The Lost & Damned, which launched over Xbox Live on February 17th, follows the story of Johnny Klebitz and the Lost & Damned biker gang of Liberty City, revisiting familiar locations, stories and characters along the way. Take-Two are said to be preparing the next episode for release before November.
saw this on source - at the end of the day, extra sales are extra sales - rockstar likes sales... ;-)
However I believe there was an article saying the 50m included other DLC, so this is an unlikely wait and see.
I doubt it. $50M isn't a lot in the world these days, a game like GTA IV can cost upwards of $25M to produce. Given GTA IV revenues already, I'd say it makes sense that $50M buys you six months of only having extra content available on your platform - let's not forget it is two exclusive episodes, not just this one. On the other hand, it also makes business sense that it will become available for the rest of the GTA IV potential audience - and that includes PC as well as PS3, the sum of which is greater than the XBOX audience alone. Longer term revenues and income will always be the over-riding factor. The $50M secured time-based exclusivity and included a sum to compensate the publisher for 2 x six months lost revenues on potential sales of the DLC on other platforms.
Don't see it happening.
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