Sony’s unique PlayStation exclusivity deal for Grand Theft Auto 3 and the next two video games within the collection was partly a response to concern about Microsoft’s launch of the Xbox, a former government has revealed.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, former PlayStation Europe boss Chris Deering (who was lately criticized for saying laid off builders ought to “drive an Uber” or “go to the seaside for a yr”) admitted Sony was involved concerning the November 2001 launch of the unique Xbox, and sought exclusivity offers with third-party publishers to bolster the attraction of the PlayStation 2.
“We have been anxious once we noticed Xbox coming,” Deering stated. “We knew exclusivity was the secret in lots of fields, like Sky TV with sports activities. Just as Christmas was approaching when Xbox would launch, just a few of us went out to our favorite third-party publishers and builders, and we requested them, ‘How would you want a particular deal if you happen to hold your next-generation recreation on PlayStation unique for a two-year interval?’ And one of many offers we made was with Take-Two for the following three Grand Theft Auto video games. At the time, it wasn’t clear that Grand Theft Auto 3 was going to be as big because it was, as a result of it was a top-down recreation.
“It was very fortunate for us. And really fortunate for them, as a result of they bought a reduction on the royalty they paid. Those offers aren’t unusual in industries with platforms. Including in the present day with issues like social media.”
As a results of this deal, Grand Theft Auto 3 launched in October 2001 as a PS2 unique, a month earlier than the unique Xbox got here out. The recreation launched in May 2002 on PC, after which, two years after the PlayStation launch and after this exclusivity deal ended, in November 2003 for the Xbox.
As Deering talked about, Sony’s Grand Theft Auto exclusivity deal was for 3 video games, so included Vice City, which got here out in October 2002 for the PS2 first, and San Andreas, which launched in October 2004 for the PS2 first. Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City hit Xbox collectively as a pack late 2003, with San Andreas launching in June 2005.
The deal labored out completely for each Sony and Rockstar father or mother firm Take-Two, as Deering suggests. Indeed, San Andreas ended up the best-selling PS2 recreation of all time, Vice City the third greatest, and Grand Theft Auto 3 the fifth greatest. Only Gran Turismo got here shut the the gross sales the Grand Theft Auto video games posted on PS2.
The exclusivity deal additionally helped cement Grand Theft Auto as a PlayStation-first collection, and whereas Grand Theft Auto 4 and Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on PlayStation and Xbox on the similar time, Rockstar’s open-world crime epic remains to be strongly related to Sony’s consoles, even now. In reality, various Grand Theft Auto video games made IGN’s Top 100 Best PlayStation Games of All Time checklist.
But what concerning the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6? It’s due out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on the similar time within the fall of 2025, however advertising and marketing offers with both Sony or Microsoft have but to be introduced, in the event that they exist in any respect.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
