GTA4 DLC - A disaster waiting to happen?

Remember back to those heady days of April 29th 2008; seems like a very very recent memory I am sure, but in video games it is a millennia ago. Back in those heady days, thousands of gamers worldwide waited outside games retailers at midnight to get their clammy hands on Grand Theft Auto 4. The GTA4 publicity machine had been in full working order for several months and gamers were positively foaming at the mouth in anticipation to get their hands on the latest and greatest instalment of the most controversial and profitable franchise in this millennia’s gaming landscape.

However, predictably gamers were not united in their anticipation. Much of the pre release chatter was idiotic console zealots arguing over the merits of the promised Xbox exclusive downloadable content. The content was (and still is) a very unique arrangement in gaming and showed the importance that post release internet delivered content had taken; something which is even more remarkable considering that this market had been non-existent on consoles at the time of the time when GTA3 was released (ignoring the Dreamcast's joke of a delivery service with no memory, no content and a 56k modem; I loved my DC BTW so no hating people but the truth hurts). Microsoft dropped a big $50m to secure this exclusive loveliness and the Microsoft advertising machine did a pretty good job of publicising the existence of the 2 content packs and telling the boys and girls who would be getting a new console for GTA (turns out there were not many) that a 360 and not the PS3 was the plastic box of joy which they should invest in to get the best GTA4 experience.

However, fast forward nearly 4 months and I think that the gamble is starting to look a little foolish. In the past 17 weeks we have seen the release of MGS4, Soul Calibur 4, Lego Indy and a whole host of great games and movies which have pushed GTA4 from the hearts, minds and disk drives of most gamers. Think it over; I doubt that many gamers will have seen more than the odd person on their friends lists playing GTA4 in the past 2 months. Looking at the wider picture, my local Gamestation (a small one) has literally 20 pre-owned copies of GTA4 for each platform up for sale; strolling past my local Cash Converters (a national pawn brokers chain in the UK) they are selling GTA4 on Xbox 360 for just £9.99 ($19 or 20% of RRP), a truly astonishing figure this close to release and considering the overwhelmingly positive reception it received.

This is kind of a problem for Microsoft, while trumping the merits of the exclusive DLC for over 2 years, there has still been no information about what it is, how much it will cost and no concrete info on when it will be released. Without this information, hoards of gamers are simply looking at that game on their shelf as being not worth keeping and are instead taking the discount on a new game it offers. Therefore whenever the mystical content is announced and released there will be a significantly reduced audience for the content than there was a few months ago, reducing further the chances of Microsoft recouping their substantial investment. Even if the content is truly magnificent in scope, how many gamers will be willing to buy back a copy of the game to buy it? If half of the gamers who sold the game buy a pre-owned copy back, the market for the DLC is still significantly reduced.

Of course, the number of trade ins on PS3 is less than ideal too but without the promise of DLC on the horizon, Sony and Rockstar/Take2/EA (future proofing is a good idea) are losing little by comparison except for a devaluing of the title with very cheap 2nd hand copies saturating the market competing with new Platinum range copies.

So what is Microsoft to do you might ask? More importantly, how did such a situation arise? Well first I have to point the finger at Microsoft who have displayed an almost Sony Europe like lack of communication and foresight with its customers. While everyone knows how outrageously well funded Microsoft is, you would hope that when they signed the cheque for $50m they had some idea about what content they were buying and what form it would take. Microsoft should have been jumping from the rooftops screaming about any info they had, even if limited, to anyone who would listen since pre-orders started properly after Xmas. If they want anyone to wait as much as 12 months for new content then they need to keep them informed about what it is they are waiting for or else they will move onto something else which is what seems to have happened.

In the end it comes down to inexperience. Net delivered content is still a new industry and everyone is learning. However, one thing is abundantly clear; communication and advertising are key to the success of DLC, not only up to and around launch of the disk game but also well after this time or else your market will shrink fast. I am sure more gamers are excited about getting their hands on Gears of War 2 or Dead Space than the GTA4 expansions.

I hope it is not the case, but at this moment with no information and a shrinking market to sell to; Microsoft’s $50m gamble could be one of the biggest commercial failures in gaming history.

[rbbrdman]

My 360 is metal. My ps3 is plastic.
Honestly I had forgot completely about the DLC.

Your right it's not as interesting anymore. When it does drop I'm sure it will be around the same time Fable 2, Gears 2 and the holiday line-up is in full swing. I doubt Microsoft recoups their money on this one. But I guess they can always shift over the XBL fees to cover it.

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

Ah yes, the highly hyped DLC that we still have no clue what it will be. Most people I know have already stopped playing GTA, I really think this will be a disaster in the making. I read somewhere how almost every person who purchased this game will have to buy the DLC b4 MS sees profit.

[socomnick]

Well its not really all about profit. Its about bringing more content to its console. I just hope it comes out soon and that its well worth it.

[Jellzy]

A good read BlackCountryBob.

1 thing you missed though was the fact that although it may be competing with highly anticipated games such as Gears of War 2 or Dead Space, theres also the the fear that the light that is GTA is starting to deminish with their new direction in realistic gameplay.

Lets face it, GTA III to San Andreas and also the "Story's" series on the PSP are much more addicitve and adhearing to play and with the soon to be Saints Row 2 in the fray promising the sort of Over the Top gameplay that GTA once was (especially those reminiscing of the San Andreas era), then SR2 is starting to look like there cup of tea. And with almost everyone who buys GTA looking for the spark that once was, who exactly is going to be interested in paying for additional content that so far are still in the dark about.

Like you said $50mil is starting to look like a ridiculous amount for exclusive content, that with time, and for various reasons, may be a disaster wating to happen.

[BlackCountryBob]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I had planned on covering the negative reactions that GTA4 has received in a follow up blog later in the week if this one was well received; I considered including this in this blog but I worried my already lengthy post would end up as a novel without focus on a topic. However I am planning on a post about Burnout which will come first.

Its good to know that I am thinking much the same as others.

What the hell, I feel pleasantly positive about good feedback, bubbles for everyone!

[Molock420]

gamefly has sent me emails advertising *to buy* gta4 for dirt cheap on both ps3 and 360. but on another note it was a shocker when I told my friends w/ 360s about the dlc coming and not surprisingly have forgotten about it. I think M$ did that to make up for the fact that they couldnt get rockstar to make it xbox exclusive and win over some post next gen customers.

[majorsuave]

As I am for COD 5, Far cry 2, Portal still alive and fallout 3 among others.

It might prove worthy for MS, it's the only console game I have completed that has potential replay value because of this very DLC. (Ok, it has replay value DLC or not).

And I believe that, if that really is 50M that MS spent on the game, they made a profit so far. Why? Because, 10$ off every sold XBOX360 game goes to MS (same goes with PS3 games and Sony), and according to numbers they sold between 7 and 8 million copies of GTAIV on 360. Simple math puts the bill at 70Million $ or more.

Add to this the dollar or 2 they will make with all the DLC... excellent move I say.

[Cajun Chicken]

Now, I jumped on board the GTA train from GTA2, because in my completely honest opinion, when GTA1 was all the rage it looked like a game that I could play on my Amiga, I loved the humour of having a button especially to fart and just generally crash into things and the corny sound effects.

GTA2 in my opinion is where the real GTA saga begun, the game insisted on being pointlessly immature and had crazy kill frenzies and bonus items to collect and the mounted weapons and oil slicks which could cause many an hour of entertainment.

GTA III made everything 3D mission based like Driver previously tried to make the mission based driving like the GTA games.
GTA III in a turn to be more mature, removed the fart button from the previous two games and the oil slicks and mounted guns in cars but still kept the kill frenzies and added adrenalin.

Now, if you look at GTA Vice City, the game mechanics were basically the same as GTA III but everything was made bigger and better and generally had a much more engrossing theme based on pop culture nostalgia and generally set the mark for games to have officially licensed soundtracks

Now San Andreas was totally insane, for good reason too, what I find with GTA: SA, Rockstar North started putting in some of the wacky, immature and only stuff that from GTA2 that had since been removed in previous installments and can be done in twisted dreams and peoples imaginations and not in real life (unless you chose to be an idiot or insane and not fit for the social world).

Where GTAIV failed is the immaturity, the crazy stuff that you can't possibly do in real life, at all. Maybe they went over board in San Andreas, but I personally found that GTAIV removed almost everything that DMA originally set out to do;
Just plain shock people whilst making them feel like a total badass whilst laughing their heads off in god-like cruelty.

There wasn't enough side missions, varied gameplay, the minigames were mostly removed; Now by no means is GTAIV a BAD game. It just didn't *entirely* deliver what most of us expected it to do.
We like doing stupid things and things that are just plain WRONG in GTA games and Rockstar just didn't add enough immature gameplay we all grew to in the GTA series, but gave us a BRAND new type of gameplay we weren't used to in the past gen GTA games with a deep mature storyline with engaging characters instead.

If the DLC puts the plain immature insanity in GTAIV again; MS did bloody well and didn't alienate anyone who doesn't pay for XBOX Live gold and MS will look great in that department for the consumer.
If its just a few missions and a storyline with no long term gameplay changes or multiplayer content...It could go down as the worst biggest exclusivity contract in gaming history.

But its Rockstar North people. Rockstar are stunning developers and if they let down, its due to tarnish Rockstar's perfect record to deliver and potentially ruin MS reputation due to the large 360 GTAIV DLC content in Fall/Autumn advertising campaign.

The recent stupidity of Saints Row 2's ad campaign has totally sold the game to me when it comes out. Judging by the mixed reception of GTAIVs longevity except the 'online which is great, Saints Row could steal what was previously GTA's crown.

[rroded]

ya i doubt the dlc will sell 50 mil worth but if they go all out on it and add all the stuff they should of had in gta4 to begin with it will be worth the buy.

[Stickguy259]

I'll have no problem booting up GTA again. Heck, I never stopped playing it. The DLC will become highly publicized by various sites once we know what it is, and that will probably create interest in it all over again.

Just what I think.

[bakagaijin78]

I don't know the reasoning behind Microsofts actions with the DLC deal, but maybe it was done to try and divert sales away from Sony as well as to perhaps sell more systems. Perhaps MS has already recouped some of the 50mil in that respect. Maybe it has already been worth it.

I know a few people that already had a PS3 and considered buying a 360 anyway so they could get the DLC. Two of those people actually did buy the 360 (they said they were sure they coud find other 360 games that would justify the purchase... but most of those are making their way to the PS3 anyway). I wonder how many others bought one too just for the promise of DLC?

[outlawlife]

i wouldn't call it a failure, it is going to accomplish exactly what they wanted it to

it will pull the people interested in the content to xbox live, a fraction of those will browse the marketplace and spend more cash

xbox will have something for gta4 ps3 doesn't

it will entice more developers to create more dlc than just map packs, and possibly delivering them exclusively through xbox live

MS didn't have to spend the money but they did
they knew they probably weren't going to make a profit on the content but the other perks of having it outweighed the price

the marketing guys at ms aren't stupid, they are some of the best around...no matter how much it sells it won't be a failure, it already did what they set out to do

[bootsielon]

Microsoft thought this would win them the console war, but it won't help them just like it won't help them when MGS4, FFVSXIII and Kingdom Hearts 3 are announced for 360. People see the 360 as a very defective console and people don't trust the microsoft brand; they know the Xbox is not "family friendly" anyway. Really sad that Microsoft has to go to rockstar with almost a blank check instead of themselves making either a GTA Killer by their own means and/or talent, or something new, unique, original and full of win, but that is why it isn't working for them anyway.

[Chubear]

It was indeed a fantastic blog read; Thumbs up. We'll see the out come soon enough.

[slugg]

Is the fact that GTA 4 being so inexpensive, people who sold it, traded it, whatever, will be much more likely to purchase it again if the DLC is worth it.

[creeping judas]

so many MS haters being pundits, and thinking with their PS3 hats on???
there are a lot of people outside of N4G that are eagerly awaiting the new DLC. And of course those are peeps that own and are loyal to the XBOX version of the game. Just because it isn't coming the way of PS3 doesn't make it a bad thing. This could possibly be the game console version of "litch king (or what ever it is on WoW)"

This may only be a testing ground for what true expansion packs can do on a console!! It may be the future for all consoles!!

I mean imagine getting an extra 5+ hours of new missions on Resistance??or on Ratchet and Clank??

If this works out, and MS and R* make money off this new way of doing business, it only means that in the future more developers will work at extra stuff for their games!!

As for my prediction, GTA4 is still relevant and will be rightfully so event with the new expansion pack!! If it isn't I'll write my own blog admitting my mistake!!!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

HAHAHA