Everyone likes to throw around terms like ‘moneyhat’ when one console gets something the other console doesn’t, but in actual fact most of the time it makes fantastic business sense. We’re not discussing exclusive games here, just the downloadable content, with the biggest recent example the massive extra chapters for Grand Theft Auto IV, which as I’m sure you’re aware are only available on Xbox 360. With the second chapter, The Ballad Of Gay Tony, out this week I thought it was fine time we all had a debate on whether this is a good thing or not.
With (we think) estimated sales figures for both versions of the game available on VGChartz, it’s apparent that the Xbox 360 version has sold around 1.5 million more copies than the PlayStation 3 version. At the time of release much of the discussion was based around the 360 version having a much higher resolution giving the game sharper, more defined graphics, but how much of the difference in sales is actually due to those two additional chapters, which Microsoft reported paid $50 million for in order to keep them exclusive to the Xbox platform?
And then there’s the other side of the coin – DLC that’s available for both consoles but free of charge on one of them, like EA’s Brütal Legend DLC that was announced on TSA yesterday -PlayStation 3 owners won’t have to pay for the DLC, which will cost Xbox 360 owners 400 MS points, assuming they download it before November 19th because after that it jumps to £3.99. Look closely at this, because although it seems like the PS3 is getting a great deal that £3.99 charge is actually 50p or so more expensive that the equivalent value in Microsoft Points.
So, is this EA being generous to PS3 owners, or is it hoping that the freebie will be offset by the long tail sales of the DLC at £3.99, or even by the supposed real intention which is to boost sales of the PS3 version of Brütal Legend? Will you be grabbing the DLC and if you don’t own a PS3 do you feel a bit cheesed off at having to pay out cash for something your PS3 friends will currently be able to download for free? What are you thoughts on console exclusive DLC in general – Tomb Raider outfits for the 360, Joker characters for the PS3?
As always with Lunchtime Discussion, it’s over to you.