Grand Theft Auto IV to be Xbox360 only

[Cauton]

This just in:

12:21: Moore whips out Xbox 360 HD-DVD peripheral--it looks like a mini Xbox 360 with a black front. The name is "Xbox 360 Player" and it will be available this holiday season.

12:22: "Major announcement about one of greatest franchsies of all time." Says its so exciting that he has to take his shirt off. Shows Halo 2 tatto--GRAND THEFT AUTO IV tatoo on other arm. Grand Theft Auto IV October 16 to Xbox 360 ONLY.

12:25: "Microsoft and Rockstar have entered into an exclusive deal to privide episodic content via Xbox Live Marketplace."

12:26: Grand Theft Auto IV will be updated with regular fresh content, more details later. Crowd is stunned, gasps all around.

Interesting. Now the two biggest American console game franchies (Halo and GTA) are exclusive to the Xbox360, while the two biggest Japanese franchies (Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest) are Sony only (or Sony and Nitendo only, if you count remakes and spinoffs). This won't help MS' situation in Japan, of course, but it'll be interesting to see what this will do for X360 sales in America. You yanks seem to be crazy about the GTA games.

Source is Gamespot.

[Cauton]

Meh, seems like Peter Moore was either lying, or missunderstood by the Gamespot blogger. The press conference announcement was really about GTA IV launching simultaneously on the PS3 and Xbox360 in October of 2007. So not really as surprising or interesting as it first sounded :P

[Andrmgic]

I think it was just worded poorly, a lot of people seem to have been confused by it.

[Malevolent_Angel]

yeah, I don't see Rockstar neglecting Sony after all these yaers of GTA playstation exclusives.

[Degolas]

Honestly, I read the title of this topic and almost smashed my screen. If that had been true I'd have been seriously pissed! :P

And fuck it. Sony need to stop providing reasons for me to buy a PS3 sooner than I thought :P

[MonCapitan2002]

Meh, seems like Peter Moore was either lying, or missunderstood by the Gamespot blogger. The press conference announcement was really about GTA IV launching simultaneously on the PS3 and Xbox360 in October of 2007. So not really as surprising or interesting as it first sounded :P

Depending on the performance of the Playstation 3 at retail, this could be either a huge boon for Microsoft in the North American market or a futile gesture.  I guess it all depends on how bad a reaction the sticker shock gets.

[Eusis]

I do believe that it will be a /very/ helpful boost, as those that just want to play GTA4 will get an X360. I don't believe just this will truly cripple Sony; they're a gargantuan multi-company empire afterall, and have excellent marketting muscle. But this and Halo 3 /have/ to at least fuck up the launch sales.

[MonCapitan2002]

The only thing that has the power to cripple Sony at this point is their arrogance and sticker shock.  If those to forces combine in the fall, then Sony could be seriously screwed.  From what I understand, the game division is the only part of the company that is doing well.  If it were to suffer serious hurdles, Sony would be in serious trouble.

[Andrmgic]

The only thing that has the power to cripple Sony at this point is their arrogance and sticker shock.  If those to forces combine in the fall, then Sony could be seriously screwed.  From what I understand, the game division is the only part of the company that is doing well.  If it were to suffer serious hurdles, Sony would be in serious trouble.

yeah.. I think even at the $600 price tag, they're going to lose something on the order of $200-300 per unit of PS3 sold. I think the second generation software of the 360, coupled with its lower price, great online service, and the fact that it will be available whereas PS3 will be in short supply, are going to cause a heap of trouble for Sony.

Also, I firmly believe that Nintendo will sell the most (hardware) units this year.. which won't exactly spell doom for PS3 or 360, but it will certainly be a good thing for Nintendo.

[Eusis]

I imagine the 360 installed base would be larger though, since so many were sold last year: I can't possibly see how the Wii winds up selling more than the relatively cheap system with new GTA and Halo in the future. :P

[Andrmgic]

Well, considering the big splash it has made at E3, and the fact that it will launch with Zelda and Metroid and possibly the new Mario game at $250 or less, I think it has a good chance of moving a lot of consoles this holiday.

GTA and Halo won't be there until at least October of '07, so I don't think those two games are going to be a big factor this year.

[Eusis]

Oh damn, thought GTA was going to be out /this/ year (not all that strange for Rockstar to wait until damn near the last minute to show off the newest game). Yeah, Wii's probably going to dominate sales this Christmas.

[Evil Gately]

To clear up some confusion on this point, the actual quote regarding Halo 3 and GTA IV was that the 360 was the only console you'd be able to play both titles on, not that GTA IV was gonna be a 360 exclusive...

And, of course, they neglected to mention the PC. But as the PC hasn't seen Halo 2 yet, I'd say the chances of H3 appearing on it are pretty slim too.

[Eusis]

And, of course, they neglected to mention the PC. But as the PC hasn't seen Halo 2 yet, I'd say the chances of H3 appearing on it are pretty slim too.

It's been announced, it's just that the decision to put it on Vista will make it take awhile before it actually comes out. So I'd say the chances of Halo 3 coming to PC are damn good... Just, that it's going to be quite awhile before we see it, and by then we'll have seen several new installments in the GTA series past 4. :P

[Juan_Blue]

for X360? well that's too bad I guess the last GTA I will play will be SA then. I ain't touching the 360 even for that one game. I still beg its on the PS3 becuase I will be buying a Wii and PS3 only.