Microsoft is paying an unprecedented $50 million for exclusive rights to publish two episodes of the forthcoming game, Grand Theft Auto IV, on its Xbox 360 games console, according to statements from a senior executive at GTA IV publisher, Take-Two Interactive.
Take-Two has already recorded the payments in financial filings as deferred revenue, explained Lainie Goldstein, Take-Two's newly appointed CFO, in a conference call with analysts.
Interestingly..
Quote:
The unprecedented scale of the $50m deal is indicated by the fact that it exceeds Take-Two's average quarterly revenue of $43 million received from all its Xbox 360 titles combined.
So the cost to Microsoft was $50m. How much will the cost to the consumer be and, just as importantly, out of Microsoft, Rockstar and the consumer, who benefits the most from this transaction?
The wording is a bit unclear ... is that "episodes" as in "iterations of GTAIV," meaning GTAIV and GTAIV Vice City (or its inevitable equivalent) are only going to be on the 360? Or does it mean only two episodes (as in, downloadable content episodes) will be 360 exclusive?
Well, dumbass, read the article! It appears that fifty million bones for two downloadable episodes. Which means you know MS is going to charge out the ass for these once they hit Live. And it also means MS hugely overpaid for such a small feather in its cap.
Well, the consumer gets more content than would have, presumably, otherwise been available. That is, if MS is funding this content being made rather than just insuring it's exclusive to Live. While I'd like to keep wishing this stuff would be free, downloadable content or 'chapter' is just the new way to say 'expansion pack'.
That's kinda nuts. I mean, is it really worth that much? Shit, the game isn't even exclusive, just 2 "episodes" that people are going to have to pay extra for anyway.
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People are looking at this wrong. Now Microsoft can't use the world exclusive on the GTA Box. It's a marketing strategy.
In a sense they can trick consumers into thinking that GTA IV is Exclusive in to the XBox 360. Simply tag on the end of a commercial - "Exclusive GTA IV Episodes Available on the XBox 360" and there ya go. People don't even have to buy the episodes for Microsoft to get a return on the investment.
It's good to see that Bill Gates still spend money on charity....
Oh please. Don't start. You know good and while how much money that man gives out to humanitarian causes, and the what his foundation has done on that front. If you don't, educate yourself.
Let's face it, $50 million ain't what it used to be in the days of Google buying a company for 3.1 BILLION. The old "shocking" amounts have changed, just look at the Hollywood movie budgets and salaries.
This is the kind of stunt that gets Microsoft into trouble for anti-competitive practices. They are using overwhealming finiancial might to influence an important market and I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't questioned at some point.
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This is the kind of stunt that gets Microsoft into trouble for anti-competitive practices. They are using overwhealming finiancial might to influence an important market and I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't questioned at some point.
The last time I checked, Sony was a multi-billon-dollar company too. They had a chance to pony up. Capitalism at its best.
This is the kind of stunt that gets Microsoft into trouble for anti-competitive practices. They are using overwhealming finiancial might to influence an important market and I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't questioned at some point.
What? Questioned by whom? This isn't some kind of unfair business practice. Sony is free to match or beat the MS offer. It's not like Sony doesn't have the financial clout to make it happen. In fact, I'm sure behind closed doors there was some negotiations about it between Take Two and Sony. They passed, so now we will see who is the wiser.
This is the kind of stunt that gets Microsoft into trouble for anti-competitive practices. They are using overwhealming finiancial might to influence an important market and I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't questioned at some point.
Yeah. I'm sure the handful of times that companies were told to suggest that something was PS3 exclusive for a while, even if it never was, was just them asking REEEEAAAAL nice.
This is the kind of stunt that gets Microsoft into trouble for anti-competitive practices. They are using overwhealming finiancial might to influence an important market and I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't questioned at some point.
Yeah, kinda like EA Sports with the NFL license.
Don't think for a second that Sony wasn't offered this chance - they just didn't take it.
The last time I checked, Sony was a multi-billon-dollar company too. They had a chance to pony up. Capitalism at its best.
And who's to say that Sony didn't pay for GTA:VC and GTA:SA's 1-year exclusive run for the PS2? They might have but we never heard a number like $50 million about those~ (At least not that I recall...)
And who's to say that Sony didn't pay for GTA:VC and GTA:SA's 1-year exclusive run for the PS2? They might have but we never heard a number like $50 million about those~ (At least not that I recall...)
Yeah. Not condoning practices like this. But Sony hasn't got a real clean slate in Marketing either, and neither has Nintendo. This is just business. We will see how it works out, but I find the move quite smart.
(and maybe 500K extra 360s due to having the best version of GTA?)
(At least not that I recall...)
