Nidan said:
another article http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/arts/20vide.html?fta=y
Take-Two executives explained the payment in a conference call with financial analysts last week. The $50 million will come in two $25 million installments as the episodes are released, starting in March 2008. A Take-Two spokesman declined to elaborate on the conference call. Despite the success of Grand Theft Auto, Take-Two has struggled financially and recently faced a shareholder revolt that ended with Strauss Zelnick, a longtime media executive, taking over as chairman. Microsoft refused to discuss its financial relationship with Take-Two. In a statement, Microsoft said, “The quality, depth and breadth of our Xbox 360 portfolio is a testament to the great relationships we’ve established over the years with our third-party partners.” Typically, Microsoft and third-party publishers split the revenue generated when players download games from Xbox Live. Games usually cost $10 or less, but Microsoft could charge $20 or more for the additional Grand Theft Auto IV episodes, depending on how many hours of playing time they offer. So the $50 million for Take-Two appears to be a sort of advance on royalties |
Wow, if that is true then it was a great deal for MS.
So basically it was a $50 million loan with no risk for MS, but a lot of gains in the form of making a few bucks off of the GTA4 DLC revenue and stealing some potential PS3-buyers over to the X360.
