GTA IV Impact and Halo 3

[rocketpig]

Sqrl said:

Well I'm sure a lot of our members are highly anticipating GTA IV right now as it is undeniably a huge title with a large following and will definitely sell hardware. 

My question however is this:  Looking at what the ridiculous hype, advertising, and word of mouth marketing of Halo 3 accomplished...do we expect GTA IV to be more or less of a system seller?  Consider also that it is split amongst two systems and thus its impact is divided.

I ask because looking at it, there have been a number of large titles pointed to as "the turning poing" and when "the market landscape will change" but clearly that hasn't happened yet.  And I personally believe that if it is going to happen its going to be the mammoth title GTA IV that will do it.  Even split between two consoles I believe the impact of GTA IV is bigger for the PS3 than MGS4 or FF individually will likely be..yes its that damn big.

So what do you think?  Will the system seller GTA IV be bigger than Halo 3?  Will it change the market landscape for the rest of the generation? 

It will be huge, but for whom?

IMO, it rides on a few things since GTA is popular with the semi-casual crowd who may not have jumped into the 7th gen yet.

- Who drops the price? By how much? What kind of price points will we be looking at? 

- How well will MS advertise the DLC and when will that DLC hit the store?

- Who throws Rockstar the money and gets their tagline at the end of the GTA IV commercials? This is actually a two-front fight in both NA and Europe.

Whoever wins two or more of those will get the bigger impact. MS has the advantage of DLC and price but up to this point, they have been pretty stingy about pricing. Also, if Sony is within $50 (or Euros) of the 360 Pro when GTA hits, that's a win for Sony IMO.