Sony speaks out on X360-exclusive GTA IV content

by Ashley Coomer - 2008/03/31 10:21am

Scott Steinberg, Vice President of Product Marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America… remember the name. When he’s not claiming the PS3 is the superior format for small developers and talking about Resistance 2 facing off against Gears Of War 2, he’ll be looking on the bright side about the X360’s exclusive GTA IV content.

“[Microsoft] spent the GNP of several small Latin American countries to get that [content], and if you’ve ever played San Andreas… there’s a lot of game to Grand Theft Auto and there’s going to be a lot of game to Grand Theft Auto IV to the point where I think most people will have that Grand Theft Auto experience on the PS3, day and date, same core game shipping on the X360. Perhaps they’ll be shipping some episodic content in the fall, but there is a whole lot of products shipping on the PS3 in April and I personally don’t think there’s going to be a huge percentage of folks who jump into the downloadable content for another price when they’re still playing through the core product,” Steinberg told GameDaily.

“While I do think having that brand on their system was a move for them which they felt they needed to make because they cut a big check for it, I think PlayStation fans know the GTA experience on the PS2 is how they grew up playing [it] and when you combine GTA IV with MGS 4 and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, all the exclusive content that we’ve got going forward, I think that goes from tipping point to shoving point for consumers who are on the fence, wondering what platform [to buy]” he added. “I think the clear exclusive message that we have is the PS3 is where, not only do you get GTA, but you’ll also get MGS, you’ll get Gran Turismo and these are also brands that have moved hardware units. It’s the elite of the elite products that actually enable hardware to be sold with software and we’ll have three of them”.

As ever, we’ve got our own PlayStationBeyond twist on this. In short, we fully understand Steinberg defending Sony and the PlayStation format, but come on! “GTA on the PS2 is how they grew up playing it”? That may be so, but how does that tie in to the exclusive content the X360 version will offer? Even if he’s talking about the game in general, let’s not forget GTA IV isn’t the first title in the series to be on a Microsoft console. Similarly, he seemed to harp on about MGS 4 and Gran Turismo 5 – again, fair point, but having those games doesn’t magically attract the content X360 owners will be able to get.