So, Grand Theft Auto IV, eh? Everyone and their dog knows that Microsoft lent Rockstar 50 million dollars in return for exclusive downloadable content for their console, the Xbox 360. This, naturally, is not for discussion – it’s clear that the 360 will get exclusive content. What’s not clear is whether or not the PS3 will get other downloadable content, and Sony’s David Reeves certainly hinted that this would be the case:
‘I’m honestly not going to make any comment on that because it’s too big a thing to… we can make an announcement when we make an announcement‘ he said recently, followed by a cryptic ‘e-mail Rockstar, ask them what’s coming‘. So, Reeves can’t say one way or another.
Backtracking a little, he was asked around the time of PlayStation Day 2008 whether it was damaging for Sony that there wouldn’t be no DLC for GTA IV, to which he responded ‘Well I think you probably will see it, it’s just that a deal obviously was struck between Microsoft and Take 2 to do that. And if that’s what they want to do, I think that’s the last shot they have.‘
He’s playing with the word that we think, which could be something very specific. Let’s just assume that the 360 gets an additional 4 hours worth of missions, exclusive, perhaps a new character that fits within the existing Liberty City storyline. That would be great, it really would, but it’s not the only downloadable content Rockstar could offer by a long way.
Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg, when asked specifically if the Xbox 360’s exclusive content would come to the PS3 replied with ‘it’s not possible as far as I’m aware, but that would be a good question to ask Rockstar. Rockstar and Xbox have only said there are exclusive episodes coming this fall to Xbox 360. I might put that up for a bit of wishful thinking on (Sony’s) end.‘
So, the PS3 won’t get those exclusive episodes, which we’ve already worked out. But what could we get? Well, we’re tempted to think that there isn’t anything contract-breaking about Rockstar wanting to, for example, sell (or indeed provide for free) additional multiplayer modes, weapons and character skins. These wouldn’t constitute ‘episodes’ by any stretch, so there’s no reason why we couldn’t be enjoying such minor tweaks to the gameplay.
But it could go further – why wouldn’t Rockstar want to offer new vehicles, or weapons? There’s even the remote possibility that both consoles could see Liberty City’s version of Staten Island… Naturally only Microsoft and Rockstar know exactly what they’ve agreed to keep exclusive for the 360, and until then all this is pure conjecture, but we’d be very suprised if we didn’t see something on our beloved PS3s this year…
What would you like to see as downloadable content?