Sony Exec Says GTA Non-Exclusivity Will Not Hurt PS3 >

	2006/06/21 14:18:16: Posted by DM
	SCEA's co-chief operating officer Jack Tretton has denied that the loss of GTA exclusivity will be detrimental to Sony's next-gen success. He argued, "There's no question that having the Grand Theft Auto franchise helped us a lot and helped us sell some units, but I don't think the battle would be any different with or without Grand Theft Auto." In fact, Tretton went on to confidentally state that, thanks to Sony's "formidable" first-party offerings, the lack of GTA4 exclusivity is unlikely to effect the company at all: "No, I don't think it hurts us. No, I really don't." This sounds a bit optimistic to us. >Link
	Labeled With  sony playstation 3 grand theft auto rockstar Comments [55] | Rate this article: -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  | Avg. rating of 5.3

it seems that if they were really so confident and not worried then why bother mentioning it to begin with? i cant access the site at work but unless directly asked about the topic, there was no reason to bring it up except for the lack of confidence and the need for self reassurance.

GTA was the major deciding factor for the ps2 in the usa it was sony's halo calibur sales giant. Now the 360 has Gears of War, Halo 3 and GTA4, Resident Evil 5 etc it hurts sony BIGTIME especially considering the ps3 and 360 versions will likely look very similar and there is a chance the 360 version can look better depending on how they take advantage of the gpu.

Plus they already have the experience of using the GTA4 engine (table tennis) on the 360 so they'll be able to take better advantage of the 360's capabilities and the cost to own a 360 and GTA4 will be significantly less than it will be to own a ps3 and GTA4. Thats all around bad news for sony and they know it. Can you imagine if Microsoft actually dropped the price of the 360? They don't need to, but you never know.

Silly Sony. Denial will not save you.

Maybe the GTA4 exclusivity won't hurt them much, but the price tag on a PS3 sure as hell will!

You guys are sometimes very naive. He was obvously asked about the subject and what else do you expect him to say? Do you really think he would say something like: "Oh yeah losing the GTA4 exclusivity really hurts...I mean right now we don't now what to do...our position in the next-gen console race doesn't look as good as before because of this...we are in big trouble".

The answer that he gave is the expected answer, I think it would really be news and surprising if he said something different. I guess something along that same line would've been the answer a Micrsoft exec woul've provided had he been asked that same question when Sony paid for the GTA exclusivity on the current gen.

It obviously hurts Sony...but do you really expect them to admit it? That wouldn't be very intelligent and would hurt them more.

Hey I think you are missunderstanding the issue. Sony rep is saying that loss of GTA exclusivity will not hurt because none have GTA4 exclusivity, neither Sony nor M$. Obviously GTA4 is not more a system seller, and Sony hopes to keep their fans happies with other exclusives.

Optaviusx: clearly all that titles are promising (RE5 is for PS3 too) but we will need to wait and see if they are enough to prevent Sony to take the market lead again.

See you.

spike as i mentioned earlier, i can not see the link at work as its blocked so that answers my question. regardless of it hurting them or not, it wont effect the initial launch of systems and the months to fallow. however come next christmas when the game is expected to ship, it may effect them more then they care to admit

It will obviously hurt Sony, and my god I wish they would stop comparing 360 to PS2.....

GTA 4 on Xbox360 on DVD [ 9gb space ]



GTA 4 on PS3 on BLU-RAY [ 25gb to 50gb Space ]

Plus PS3 has HDD has Standard...the Xbox360 does not...

There Will be some differences...

is it VERY unlikley that a company such as EA who loves to save money will make the game ANY different because of blu-ray. I seroiusly doubt that will happen, espeically with Electronic Arts. Come on now.

Last I checked, Rockstar will publish the game, not EA. Come on now. And I bet, if Sony pay them an extra amount, we'll definitely see a better version on the PS3.

Of course it won't hurt them, since any hardcore GTA fan will no doubt own a PS3

man you just dont get it they havent even used a whole dvd9 dvd yet so they dont need that much and yea right sony gonna pay more to make theres better that was the dumbest thing i ever heard. of course its gonna hurt since now u can get it on a cheaper system use common sense dont just say stuff cuz your a sony fan boy

whYte420: they are comparing only sales figures. You must to admit it is very odd PS2 (old gen) is selling a lot more that x360. That can get worse if Sony drops PS2 price to 99$ close to PS3 launch.

cyrix how much you willing to bet on that? I don't it has occurred to everyone yet, but all these games can fit on a SINGLE 360 disc and whats the worst that could happen? They use a second disc? Oh the horror.

I'm telling you right now no game will touch even 10Gig+ for awhile unless ps3 developers purposely overpack their discs to make it look like the space is being used. Not only that the advantage blu ray may have had is null and void anyway as there can't be more than 256MB worth of textures at any one time.

There is also something else you need to consider.. its a MULTIPLATFORM title. The versions wont be different from eachother in terms of content, but lets not forget the 360 will receive exclusive episodic content added to its version of GTA (meaning this content will not be on the ps3 version)

JimmyHACK, I won't.

Hardcore GTA fans will want GTA for as little cost as possible and thats clearly the 360. How in god's name will they put more on the ps3 version (since they have more disc space with blu ray when both games suppose to release at the same time? You have any idea how much work Rockstar would have to do? Enough said the versions will be the same except the 360 version is well capable of having superior graphics. 256MB more memory for textures a superior gpu and more than 5 times the video memory bandwidth.

"whYte420: That can get worse if Sony drops PS2 price to 99$ close to PS3 launch."

LOL...that would be by FAR the dumbest move Sony could make. Then they would be competing against themselves for the "new" gamer. Lets see...I want to buy a gaming system...I could get a PS3 for $500 or a PS2 for $100. Sure it would cut into 360 sales..but it would do as much damage if not more to the PS3.

GTA series completely helped Sony move PS2's. They had it exclusive for a long time. Sony will not have that advantage anymore...it will cut into the number of PS3 sold based on the GTA game series alone. And it was a HUGE number for the PS2.

The only one in denial here is OPTAVIUSX... LMFAO! You're a joke, kid.

Ps3 is gonna cripple, and already does, the xbox 360's meager graphics.

Yes, 60 gig of blu-ray space and a built in Hd for 500 bucks... There will be a bit of a difference between the games, believe me.

R* made all their money with Sony and if it wasn't for the Ps2 they'd have not had half the success. R* is gonna make it up to Sony, believe me.

"Hardcore GTA fans will want GTA for as little cost as possible and thats clearly the 360."

That's the lamest thing I've ever heard of.

Sure, hardcore PS3 gamers will want the cheapest PS3 console. They'll want the cheapest games available, right? I mean, that's what "hardcore" means, no?

xbox sales

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (1.35 million)

ps2 sales

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (13.44 million)

yea it was released like 6 mo apart but still... SONY AINT WORRIED... i promise you GTA will sell more on the ps3.. why? cuz thats where all the real "hardcore" gamers are

MS only has one genre on lock... FPS.(halo).. dats it



otpa your the most biased man i know

"MS only has one genre on lock... FPS.(halo).. dats it"

Not really I traded my ps2 for an xbox so I can play fighting games (Street Fighter, KOF) online and so did many of my friends.

That's funny. The "real hardcore gamers" also have "real hardcore bank accounts", "real hardcore ignorance", and "real hardcore blind faith".

Sony spoon feeds you lies. Games will fill Blu-ray disks because Sony makes them that way. It's a self-fufilling prophesy. You don't need that space, but to "prove" you need it, they will fill the disk with prerendered fluff. Only 5% of the disk will be used for real game data.

Remember, only one of those two consoles is MADE by "real hardcore gamers". The other one is made by stuffy suits trying to insert Blu-ray into your...market.

You traded your ps2 for an XBOX just for fighting games?? you must be really stupid... PS2 has 10x more fighting games than XBOX and exclusives such as TEKKEN and VF so i dont really get what you tried to say...

"Sony spoon feeds you lies. Games will fill Blu-ray disks because Sony makes them that way. It's a self-fufilling prophesy. You don't need that space, but to "prove" you need it, they will fill the disk with prerendered fluff. Only 5% of the disk will be used for real game data."

sony dident feed me anything.... when did sony ever say they would fill a blu ray disk????.. and the space is more geared towards blu ray movies.... wtf? is that the best comback u can come up with?

Mr know it all you're the only joke here sorry you are yet another blind sony faithful that believes EVERY word out of sony. Let me guess were you also one of the clowns that believed the ps2 would be able to do all the things the 360 is just now capable of doing? Like downloading demos, movie trailers... How long has E3 passed and we've STILL seen nothing regarding sony's "xbox live killer"

360's meager graphics.. shame the 360 thoroughly massacres the ps3 graphically.. the ps3 doesn't stand a chance in hell beating that gpu combined with all that video memory bandwidth. The ps3 only has 256MB available for textures the 360 has 512 just wait and see I'll be right back here to laugh when everyone finds out sony overpromised and undelivered again. Virtua Fighter hasn't been the same since the sega saturn don't give me that crap. The game is no longer what it once was and sales reflect that. Tekken yet another game that is no longer what it once was.

Hell even a sony developer which came out to put to rest the inquirer article? What did he say? The ps2 had more peak theoretical power, but the xbox outperformed it in real world games. The ps2 had a cpu that was more than 2 times better than what the xbox had.. The ps3 cpu is not even close to being 2 times better it just has slightly more peak theoretical just like the ps2 did. The Xbox360 will outperform the ps3 in actual games just like the xbox did the ps2.

opta too bad the xbox dident out perform sales wise and quality content... which is what really matters

sony first party>>>> MS

he jus answered what everyone was sayin by postin how much gta sold duh of course it sold more on ps2 because it was out first people dont like to wait. now they dont wont have to buy a ps3 just for gta4 point proven good job

if GTA came out on xbox first it wouldent have sold no where near 13 mil......bottom line is most of rockstars gaming base is on sony.. over 90 percent... ... most of the ps3 on the market around nov 07 will be hardcore gamers early adopters...

you proved my point again. iit might not as sold as much but like the article is talkin about that they might lose sales you smart enough to know it will hurt them point blank even a sony fan boy can see that

lol man if GTA was a 360 exclusive MS still wouldent win the console war.....

damn let me read the article again oh wait there not talkin bout console war it says lose sales and truth be told it would and only reason it wont win is because of fan boys who would buy anything sony puts out thats just how the world is

1-Intelligent people would wait till both consoles are in the market to decide.

2-Those who already have an XBOX360, and in the case GTA4 was a time exclusive for PS3, still wouldnt buy a PS3 to play that game so SONY doesnt lose anything with the lost exclusiveness.

3-Why are you such a fanboy optavius?? You always rely on specs to prove something that its not even out on tthe market. All that i know is that RE4 for PS2 has better graphics than any of the XBOX games. The quality relies on how much effort developers put into the game and not specs. Also BLu-ray and standard HDD always help so we are probably seeing better stuff on PS3...you should admit it...

Opta, you keep pulling the same crap out of your ***. And, that 'hardcore' comment of yours was just plain stupid, dude.

Its easy to say that 360 graphics are better yadayadayada etc; there arent any commercial PS3 games out yet. Its the same thing as saying 360 graphics are better than those of PS10. Yea, thats great. Way to go MS! Way to go opta!

The only fair way to fo this is with an A-B comparison of the same game on the same setup. Unfortunately, this isnt even possible since 360 cant do 1080i and doesnt have hdmi. The PS3 version would have to be unfairly dumbed down to meet the limitations of 360.

"You traded your ps2 for an XBOX just for fighting games?? you must be really stupid... PS2 has 10x more fighting games than XBOX and exclusives such as TEKKEN and VF so i dont really get what you tried to say..."

First "hoe" grow up with that name calling over a videogame , second 3d fighter can never replace the 2d ones and to this day more 2d fighters are played

then 3d (3rd strike, KOF, MVC2, Guilty Gear etc..), third unlike ps2 you can play fighting games online in the states on live and that's why I traded in the ps2 .

As for the GTA4 non-exclusive hurting sales; obviously, anything short of an exclusive is gonna have an impact to some degree. The co-COO is saying that it dont matter in terms of moving PS3 units. Fortunately, PS3 isnt a one franchise system like 360 with Halo.*Edited that last part. Insulting users is not needed.*

PS3 might be expensive, but it gives a bigger package for entertainment than the 360. GTA IV is for the PS3 and 360 so it doesn't really matter anymore. Its a great game that will sell systems, but its gonna lose much of its sales since the government is trying to end video game life.

you guys are funny your mad at someone that talks about xbox but you come back and go crazy over ps3 just get the system you like and if you went to e3 you would see ps3 didnt have a good show but all yall gonna say is who cares about e3 i bet

Any chance of a Wii port? Perfect solution for the shitty gta targetting system.

hrm... according to Hoe, ps2 is obviously a much better machine because RE4 looks better than any game xbox has out?

What does that say for gamecube? I mean, they had to hack the shit out of RE4 to make it actually run on ps2 without choking it.

Anyway, of course they're going to say that a multiplatform release of GTA4 won't matter. They're psychotic. They also think that I want to order my ps3 customized for extra money. It's become clear that sony doesn't even listen to themselves when they speak anymore.

*Edited: Please do not talk about illegally modified consoles.*

OPTA,Why argue w./these sony fangirls? You know reality! It's only these idiots that are going to be buying the ps3! Yes, that's 100% fact only they sony fans will pay that much for it, leaving the 360 and Wii outselling 2 times as much EZ!!!

*Edited: You love Sony, we got it. Troll elsewhere.*

"You always rely on specs to prove something"

That is funny. You are giving him a hard time using stats and facts to back up his point rather than his opinion?

You didnt finish the phrase... also we dont have the final specs neither the proof that games are gonna be better so its like one above said: XBOX360 is better than PS10... who can say the contrary?? Could we just wait and see?? its nonsense you trying to prove that something is better and i trying to prove that its worth it. Neither of us know...

If you are happy with your XBOX, then why do you have to come and bash PS3 in every post?? you are not going to change anyone mind with stupid posts...

Dlacy13g: What are you talking about? PS2 is already at 129, if what you says is truth everybody will buy a PS2 instead a PS3 even if PS2 keeps its price. The fundamental reason about PS2 outselling x360 is because Playstation name, common people prefers to buy a cheaper (and trusted) PS2 than a x360, but when PS3 arrives it will be THE new thing. Hardcores will be buying it and PS2 will compete with underpowered kid-tendo not with PS3.

Back on topic.

GTA4 non-exclusive is a win for MS and hurts Sony; but, its certainly not a life or death situation for PS3.

And, remember, it was only a time release exclusive for PS2 ... ie. GTA eventually came out for xbox (about 6 months later); so, its not like xbox fanboys all of a sudden had to run out and buy a PS2. All they had to do was wait.

Optaviusx, it has already been stated on many websites and game developers that the graphical differences of both of the "next gen" sytsems will be almost unnoticable. And about the PS2 have more peak performance and a better CPU, that is not what was said, it was said that the PS2 has more tri-performance, that's all. Why wouldn't the Xbox have better performance than a console that has been for almost a year before it was released? Come on.



"The Xbox360 will outperform the ps3 in actual games just like the xbox did the ps2."This is something you can not say until both consoles are out.

As for the whole GTA4 thing, I don't see any reason why someone who wants to play GTA4 would buy a $500 or $600 system for a game they can play on a $300 or $400 system, but that's how everyone would feel IF THEY WERE ONLY GETTING A CONSOLE TO PLAY THAT ONE GAME. The sales of these two consoles will depend on all of the games that are on sale for them, not just one.

Right you are none of that can be validated until after both are out I agree there. Also when I say ps2 had more peak theoretical power I meant just that. The peak theoretical for the ps2 cpu was 6.2GFLOPS the Xbox? The xbox was 1.466GFLOPS and yet the Xbox could outperform the ps2 in real world games. The ps3 doesn't have nearly such an advantage on the 360 which is why I ultimately believe the 360 will outperform the ps3 on real world games (thanks in large part to the development environment on the 360 and the amazing dev tools from Microsoft)



Now don't get me wrong here folks I don't hate the ps3, Heavenly Sword looks gorgeous (despite minor things) it will improve even further visually before release and I'm going nuts for Final Fantasy 13.. I will buy a ps3 for that game. You guys make some great points one game wont be a deciding factor, but GTA if you check the sales charts has ALWAYS been a major factor for sony as a matter of fact all 3 gta games are in the top selling videogames ever list and I believe 2 of those outsold EVERYTHING else on the ps2 only Gran Turismo came close. Sony didn't lose the game altogether, but not having that timed exclusive hurts them in a big way factor in their asking price for the ps3 compared to the 360 and thats not good for business.

There aren't many titles out there that can claim responsibility for having sold a million+ consoles and GTA is one such franchise. I'll tell ya had all 3 GTA games beem multiplatform for the ps2 and xbox the original xbox would've easily had sold well over 40-45+ million units sold (compared to just over 24 million) which could've left sony at around 55-60 million console sold as opposed to their over 100 million + number. GTA is a crucial franchise for sony. It isn't about how big a splash can you make with 1 game (in microsoft's case its halo or ninja gaiden), but how many titles capable of such sails can you produce. In this area I admit sony had the advantage with the ps2, but with the 360 I believe Gears of War will become one such franchise.

# Gran Turismo 3 (14.36 million)

# Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (13.63 million) [439]

# Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (13.44 million)

# Grand Theft Auto III (11.42 million)

# Final Fantasy X (7.93 million)

# Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2 - 7 million) [440]

# Gran Turismo 4 (6.58 million) [441]

this comment "I'll tell ya had all 3 GTA games beem multiplatform for the ps2 and xbox the original xbox would've easily had sold well over 40-45+ million units sold (compared to just over 24 million) which could've left sony at around 55-60 million console sold as opposed to their over 100 million + number."

thats BS.. PS1 sold well over 100 mil WITHOUT A GTA LIKE TITLE.. xbox just was ass last gen as far as variety of games

The ps1 was clearly the best of course it would do so well. Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid,Chrono Cross. The n64 had some good titles, but it was at a clear disadvantage against the ps1 in every regard possible and everyone knew that. Especially with its use of compact discs.

With sales like 13.44 million, 11.42 million and 13.63 million you don't think no more GTA timed exclusive hurts sony especially at the asking price for the ps3? The Gran Turismo series doesn't sell as much as GTA does consistently. Not even final fantasy or Metal Gear can outsell GTA. As far as sales go the GTA franchise is a sony console's #1 franchise nothing has outsold it.

Halo 3, GTA4, Resident Evil 5, Gears of War on the same console is a major problem. Gears of War is already a sales success without even being released practically 90% or more 360 owners will purchase the game.

opta how could u say somthing soooo ignorant..."Gears of War is already a sales success without even being released practically 90% or more 360 owners will purchase the game." HALO 2 ISENT EVEN OWNED BY 90 PERCENT OF THE XBOX INSTALL BASE".. also i dont hear about some crazy number of preorders compared to halo 2 either... and wow im suprised you havent said anything about mass effect your post... thats a first.. back on topic.. so let me get this str8.. u saying games like RE5 and GTA 4 WILL sell more on xbox 360? just cuz its cheaper? lol.. that is a factor but it doesent determine anything.. if thats the case then every multi plat will sell better on the 360 huh?? just cuz its cheaper.... yea right

and for the record ps2 was clearly better last gen too with or with out GTA

Thats because mass effect is coming out 2007.

Yea I'm not disagreeing that the ps2 wasn't clearly better last gen because it was. I'm saying without the GTA franchise the ps2's lead wouldn't be quite as impressive as it is currently. In regards to 90% or more of 360 owners I'm saying by the time Gears of War releases there will be like 10 million 360s out there I think the majority will buy Gears of War.

Its not a amtter of whether or not the ps2 was the best console last gen in terms of games because everyone even myself knows it is (I don't own the original xbox, but I own a ps2) I'm just saying people need to admit how big a role the GTA franchise played for the ps2. With so many strong back to back sales at one point someone has to look at those numbers and see wow this is an unbelievable system seller.

Even the halo franchise can't claim such sales. Halo 2 sold GTA style numbers, but the first one didn't. GTA is the highest selling franchise there is quite possibly.

Well nowadays anyway. RE5 and GTA4 are big triple A titles the majority of consumers will go for a great product at a reasonable price not the a great product at a price much higher than they can actually get it for. If there was no 360 selling at such a price the ps3's price would be fine, but thats not how it will work out. Just pay attention to gears of war's sales.