Microsoft I believe. Exclusive GTA content will always be huge in this industry and has the biggest chance of moving consoles. But we'll see in the coming weeks.

I'm not sure that MS will make back the money but will they care? part of that money has to be worth losing when keeping the dlc exclusive. In that respect MS. I think KZ will make more money but how many more consoles did MS sell of the back of GTA4's release with the promise of exclusive dlc?

Squilliam said: Other areas where Microsoft spent $50M Gears of War 1/2 -> Better use of money than KZ2. Halo 3 -> Definately better use of money than KZ2. GTA IV -> Well they are getting most/all of that money back!

Very well said Squilliam and highly probable. Gears of War 1 & 2 cost less than $50 million combined. Kill Zone 2 has cost more than $50 million and 4 or 5 years of hard work by Guerilla to get it right. I believe KZ2 has cost around $60m.

@ squilliam and numonex

1) the reason we are comparing kz2 and gta4 dlc is due to the fact the games are up against one another and released around the sametime. Therefore it's pointless looking at geow1&2.
2) gta4 dlc is only available to 360 owners who still own a copy of gta4.
3) cost of dlc will probably be in the region of £10-£15 ($15-$20). How many people are willing from the small portion of gta4 owners to fork out half the price of a new ip on dlc?
4) if it costs $20, 1250000 downloads will have to be made for ms or rockstsr to break even (considering they don't advertise). This is only for the 1st episode.
5) kz2 needs to sell just under 1.15million copies to break even ( considering the game cost £40000000 to make and retails at £35.
6) people are happy to pay £10-15 for a new IP or a product they can physically hold. Gta4 dlc is non of those.
7) kz2 will possibly have a longer run then gta4 due to the fact it's a new IP, much hyped, ps3 maybe followed with a price cut and the game may also get bundled.
8) how many gamers will go out and buy gta4 avgain just to pay another £10-15 on dlc when they can possibly pick up halo wars a new IP for the same price?

Its very possible that MS paid T2 the money as a simple advance, just like a record label would pay an artist an advance on their next album.

At the same time, given T2's cashflow issues at the time, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a flat out payment for the 2 lots of DLC and Rockstar won't see another cent. However this would also be a risk as they could provide a crap product, so some sort of incentive must exist.

just to give more statistics, gta4 sold just over 6.8million copies on the 360. Question is, how many of those people still own it. Let's just say 50% do. That's about 3.5million potential customers.

1) how many people will pay £10-15 for dlc? Let's just say 50%. That's just over 1.7 million. Soporentially, ms may may make around 6.8million
2) if kz2 sells 3million ltd they will make around £105000000 profit.

These numbers are just estimates based on probability but it gives you a rough idea.

One BIG miscalculation you are making here is that the retail price for DLC is almost pure profit, with the exception of bandwidth costs (which for the 1-2GB that GTA4:L&tD will be is a matter of cents). This means that @ $20 it really will only need around 1.2mil copies to break even, this part is correct.

HOWEVER

The revenue that Sony will receive from KZ2 will be about 50% of the RRP of a retail copy of a game. So for a $50 game they will get about $25 back once you take out packaging, shipping, wholesaler margin, retailer margin, etc, etc. Not to mention the massive worldwide marketing budget that this game is going to get. I'd suggest that KZ2 will need to sell at least 2.5 million to break even.

Let me get this right. You think there are 3.4 million used copies of GTA4 sitting unsold on store shelves around the world?

Plus you think that if KZ2 sells 3 million copies they will make 105 MILLION POUNDS PROFIT or USD$150 MILLION PROFIT

I think you need to learn the difference between profit and revenue

did someone confirm planes in the DLC?

Nintendo!


Well the real question is : was the loan part of the reason GTA4 was on 360? or not timed exclusive? if yes, then MS has a great more from their $50M than sony...