Microsoft Shells Out $50M for GTA Content

Xbox 360 gamers will have a chance to download exclusive episodes for GTA IV thanks to a deal Microsoft has cut with Take-Two.

If you were under the impression that Rockstar’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV would get the same content on every platform, as it has in ever past iteration, think again. Microsoft has secured exclusive content for GTA IV on the Xbox 360 by making the game’s publisher an offer they couldn’t refuse: $50 million for two downloadable episodes.

Texyt reports that Take-Two CEO Lainie Goldstein let the news slip in a conference call with analysts. According to Goldstein, the downloadable episodes will be offered through Xbox Live Marketplace. The first episode will appear in March 2008 (five months after the game’s October 16 launch), and the second will follow about a year later.

Further reporting by Next-Gen revealed the financial details of the arrangement. Microsoft will keep 30 percent of the profits from the new episodes for use of its Live Marketplace. Take-Two will keep the remaining 70 percent for their development of the content. Microsoft’s initial $50 million represents an advance payment for Take-Two’s cut of the profits, meaning the company could make more or less depending on sales.

Given the businesslike way this news has surfaced, no details of what the content will actually be have appeared. And although Xbox 360 owners know they’re due to have at least $50 million collectively milked out of them, there’s still no word on what each downloadable episode will cost on its own.