Sony: We don't need no GTA

There's no denying the Grand Theft Auto series' astonishing stranglehold on the general gaming population. In fact, such is the popularity of GTA, many have attributed a significant part of the PS2's success to Sony's exclusivity deal with Rockstar. Now, in the face of a simultaneous Xbox 360 and PS3 release for GTA4, SCEA's co-chief operating officer Jack Tretton has denied that the loss of exclusivity will be detrimental to Sony's next-gen success.

Speaking to TheStreet.com, Tretton 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."

[bernie]

Rockstar, if you're watching? Sony aren't interested so just make it for the Xbox360.

[USMChardcharger]

i never catch what you say, but it must be bad because no one more would love to see ssj banned for good than outlaw.

and if you are using a lot of bad language to get your point across, then you are no better than ssj anyway.

[OutLaw]

If they really believe that not having GTA exclusive don't hurt their company then maybe Rockstar should consider not giving them that series no more. There was two things hE said that was stupid. One is this

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."

The Second was this, when asked about the price of the PS3.

I guess if price is the only consideration," he offered, "then we've won the war, because we've got a $129 PlayStation 2 that outsells the Xbox 360 today."

The guy is a moron. The war isn't with the PS2. But the PS3. Thats like saying that the Nintendo DS is out-selling the PS2. It wouldn't be a good comparison. Come on Sony get it together.

[Lucidmantra]

I mean why care about a game that sold about 60 million of those 100 million units you sold. Geez these guys are dumb... the air must be thin up there on their high horse because sure aren't getting enough oxygen for their brains to function correctly.

[PS360PCROCKS]

WHO CARES IF THE PS2 outsold the 360? Even if it does and I have stated this before the Xbox 360 before accessories would have made 92 Million and the PS2, 56 Million, they're selling more, but for MORE THAN HALF what the 360 sells for, geesh Sony needs to make a book "The art of bullsh*t" and they can market it with "This influential book will teach you how to look like a total non ethical, or knowledgeable individual, how to make bad business decisions, and how to try and cover it up with more moronic statements"

[Shadow Flare]

"WHO CARES if PS2 outsold the 360?"

well, thats...actually the whole point to being successful in the gaming industry; the more consoles you sell, the more successful you are.

And i hardly think playstation dont care bout gta #1. Sony was the one who recognised the talent and potential in the first place. I think what the guy shouldve said was that yes, ps2 could have won the last generation without gta, BUT it certainly helped

However, i wonder what would happen if xbox lost halo exclusivity.Mmm...haha

[PS360PCROCKS]

"well, thats...actually the whole point to being successful in the gaming industry; the more consoles you sell, the more successful you are."

I think the point of being successful is to make money not sell as many things as you can, aston martin and rolls royce don't sell as many cars as any other car company, but they make just as much if not more, nice try to be clever. Also I'd rather be Microsoft making $400 a console than ps2 for $130 think about it for every 2 consoles Microsoft sells, sony has to sell 6 to make the same amount...

[TheMART]

Uhm not to be a pain in the *ss my friend, but it depends on the costprice of the console. You can't compare selling price, because you don't know the amount of money that Sony wins or looses on the PS2.

We know with the 360 that it's somewhere close to 175 on a Premium, but costprice of the PS2 will got lower also in the past 6 years.

[AuburnTiger]

He's right

[Marty8370]

He means its one game,there will be other new top selling 1st party titles on the PS3 that will do the same job,sell units

[Lucidmantra]

What was the top selling series for the PS2?

[zypher]

just in case you REALLY wanted to know, the Gran Turismo series on the PS2 has sold more than 20 million units worldwide. thats not counting GT 1 and 2 on the PSOne

[Lucidmantra]

Linkage??? and I said for the PS2...
Show me the numbers not just what you want to type. I BET you that GTA is at least the the #1, #2 or #3 selling series for the PS2 that isn't a Sony first party developed game (meaning no GT, MGS) and pissing them off is not a good thing since they rung up HUGE sales for your system last gen.

GTA:SA sold over 12 million copies in the first 4 months it was released. And that is only 11 of the 3 that came out for the PS2.

Only thing other than that i can think of in the US is Madden and for Japan it is Final Fantasy toi match those numbers.

[zypher]

and yes, i'm talking PS2 too. GT 3 and 4 sold more than 20 million units worldwide

http://www.totalvideogames....

[Lucidmantra]

ok i will research it... But lets at least agree saying you don't need one of the top 5 selling series your company has is a little bit dumb.

[PS360PCROCKS]

la la la GTA DUH! Good job Lucid, this guys a idiot

[THELANDSOFSAND]

GTA4 not being an exclusive, that actually IS the least of their problems!

lol

Sony is so lame.

[BlackCountryBob]

That is possibly the stupidest thing I have heard a Sony exec say for a while, the top selling game of your previous console doesnt matter, Microsoft said they did a survey about why people bought PS2 instead of xbox and most people said it was to play GTA! Maybe he was right, at Sony they must think the reason most people bought a PS2 was so they could play a great Sony exclusive game such as Getaway which is in no way a clone of GTA.

[Lucidmantra]

I guess they think God of war is their new GTA. And granted it is a good game but GTA because a cultural phenomenon that went beyond gaming and was on the lips of all sorts of people who were not gamers. For dubious reasons and outlandish reasons but that kind of press is what made alot of people want to buy it. GTA transcends gaming and gamers. That and also it ushered in a entirely new game type, and still remains the benchmark to test all the others by. It is not smart for Sony to piss rockstar off unless they lost to Microsoft in a bidding war and will be feeling the wrath of the timed exclusive for GTA this generation. I know rockstar is in a little trouble but that isn't anything a few million dollars from microsoft to be a first party development studio can't handle.

[96impala]

lol wow, saying that gta had no effect on the ps franchise is really really Kocky and stupid. I have to admit, that when i bought my ps2 and my buddy bought gta 3 and that was before the masses even was aware of it, we played it at his house and i went out that night and bought it and cant help but to remember feeling like damn, the ps2 is sooo hot. All because of gta 3, then i ended up with gta vc and sa so they cant really be serious.

[REDMOND BOYZZ]

(Sony) I know you are, but what am I... please!

[TitanXX]

Sony has nothing to worry about. when It comes to next-gen software GTA is not even that important for Sony or even Microsoft to have as a game period.Thier are way to many GTA like games like Saint Row or Crackdown coming out to make the GTA have a big impact on the next-gen consoles. Sony knows that know devlopers have to release original games and I believe the next big next-gen game will be a original game(from Gears of War to even Resistence: Fall of Man). Original games will be better for the idustry.

THELANDOFSAND- Sony has nothing to WORRY about and aren't worried at all about what poeple say about thier console. MS knows Sony has something big that hasen't been revealed and so do some game journalist. i beleive Sony will have a Great Launch and they have a great system PS3.

I also beleive that the 360 will be the only next-gen console to put on some serios competition for Sony and Sony knows that.

[THELANDSOFSAND]

no, sony dont have any secret special launch surprise, you are such a dork.

lol

you amuse me.

[TheMART]

OFCOURSE SONY IT'S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHHHTTTTT

Just as having NO RUMBLE is not important
Not having 2 x HDMI is not important
Not having delivered the CGI @ E3 2005 quality it's not important

The only importance Sony has is pushing it's BetaBluRay format and forcing people buying an expensive videoplayer that can do some games on top of that great move

@ PS3Titan

Sony has everything to worry about. Less exclusives, where 360 has more and better ones.
You forget there is a large GTA fanclub and that the name is known to be alligned to PS.
But you're right the next big thing will be Gears of War and yep it's an exclusive for the 360

[AuburnTiger]

Could you explain why having 2x hdmi inputs be important?

[Defman420]

SHUT THE H3LL UP FOR CHRIST FREAKIN SAKE. YOU'RE RUINING IT FOR ME. IM TRYING TO BE STUPID AND TALK MYSELF INTO PURCHASING YOUR [email protected] CONSOLE THIS YEAR, SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SHUT THE H3LL UP. GEEZ. FREAKING IDIOTS!!!

[Gamer13]

GTA is the best game ever.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Dude it's like Halo, Gta will sell alone on it's name, it will be unbelievable sales if it gets good reviews, it's gta for christ sake, I bought a ps2 for a 2nd time to play these games, their so moronic, it's like the PS brand it's going to sell to some mindless consumer just cause it's a PS

[nightowl]

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago the European Sony head said that they didn't even need games to sellout the PS3 at launch, or something to that effect?

Why are we suprised that they would throw Rockstar under the bus when they apparently don't even think they need *any* games at all, let alone one of their best franchises from the last gen.

Sony has gone completely bat-sh*t crazy.

[THELANDSOFSAND]

lol

yes, they dont need games, screw the fans.

what is wrong with them?

[DG]

My god is everybody a fan boy nowadays. I agree whith the article statement. I mean I love GTA and it was one of the reasons I kept playing my PS2 but it wasnt the only reason/game. Now it may affect sonys sales by about a million units at the most but not more than that. I mean its still coming out on the PS3. Its like people took this as a dis to rockstar and sony saying f.u. gta camp we dont need you.

Geeeeeezzzzzzzzzzz!

[Lucidmantra]

your saying that GTA only accounted for 1 million consoles sold over the Xbox?? DUDE you are high. It might not be 60 million like i stated before but i bet it is at least 10 million.

[USMChardcharger]

if any one can say they can make it without gta, it would be M$ (proven). they did pretty good without it...could sony be sucessful without it like M$ was?
we will never know because both will have this time.

but who cares, Saints Row baby!

[Silent]

Rockstar how could you!!!! SONY made you and this is how you repay them?!?!? I thought you and SONY are hommies whats with that?!?!?

[Shadow Flare]

ms was trying so hard to get gta to be an exclusive for their 360, and rockstar basically say, "Uh no, if it IS gonna be on the 360, then playstation is having it aswell. And we're not releasing it for the 360 earlier than ps3 either". I think that kinda shows that rockstar have a good relationship with sony

ms was beggin for it, beggin like a pink b1tch, and you can guarentee that ms offered rockstar loads of money to be exclusive, but the fact that they sticked with PS is proof of a good relationship

[bloop]

Sony Sony Sony Sony, why do you say such stupid things!!!! Some of my friends (that aren't gamers) ran out and bought PS2's solely for the GTA games and never bought another game!!! GTA was their trump card and I think losing even timed exclusivity is going to hurt them enough.

[pRo loGic II]

"ADVERTISEMENT" : IF YOU'RE PLAYING A NEXT-GEN GAMES AND ARE FEELING DOWN FROM NEXT-GEN AI TRY! (BOLTHOUSE JUICES)IT'S GREAT FOR GAMING.

[mephixto]

With all the new laws on violent games GTA IV won't be the same. Check the link

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/...

If rockstar make another violent game equal to San Andreas, Rockstar will be dead.

[THELANDSOFSAND]

its called a m rating, dumba$$

[THAMMER1]

I have played Hitman blood money and it is very mature. The rating gives them the right to do as thy please. The (m) rating is almost like saying the legal limit for driving or drinking. But there are still many limitations like nudity and drug use.

[THE TRUTH]

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."
Key word being "confidentally", I don't see why he wouldn't say it in the actual interview being as Sony "Brass" have been talking out their a$$ as of late. It's clear that dominating with the Psone and PS2 have giving Sony a Big head..... Maybe it's because the GTA is not exclusive anymore and they feel they have to down play it, but GTA is a major title for any system. GTA is a videogame gender that has really been waterdowned as of late with alot of developers trying to copy what Rockstar has created.........

Anyway you slice it Sony down playing GTA/Rockstar is not good but GTA won't be a factor until 2007 and anything could happen between now and then.

On a side-note Sony did take a HUGE risk by giving Rockstar the chance to even release a game that violent. Games like "Thrill Kill" have never seen the light and Sony could have been scared but they had the balls to allow it. It's fair to say Rockstar and Sony have benifited equally.

[Jay da 2KBalla]

Some more idiotic bs from another sony exec. Man from all their recent comments you would think Sonys corporation was full of dumbasses. To say that GTA wasnt important to the ps2 is idiocracy. And then sonys first party is a complete joke. I dont recall any of their ps3 games receiving E3 awards although about 3 of Microsofts 360 games did so what is this guy talking about however their first party kicked ass for the ps2. They didnt even show a next gen GRan Turismo but an upscaled current gen version. hmmm And Halo 2 alone out sold any other game that sony shipped. I just dont understand why sony continues to make themselves look like fools if they are so confident. All you here from sony is bashing and half truths. Man sony needs to get it together.

[PS360PCROCKS]

right on, good comment

[AuburnTiger]

Basically he said that not having a GTA as an exclusive was not going to kill ps3 sales. He never said screw rockstar or that “we don’t need them!!” Also during the interview Sony give tribute to the GTA series by saying "There's no question that having the Grand Theft Auto franchise helped us a lot and helped us sell some units”.

I think some people are a little mislead by this article.

[PS360PCROCKS]

This though is idiocy, making a comment like this is almost as bad as saying "We don't need no stinkin rumble" oh...wait...they did that too, hmm man sony you really suck a big one

[shoota33]

shut the hell up if xbox did not have halo xbox would not even had so 15 million

[Jay da 2KBalla]

You shut the hell up with your fanboy idiotic posts. Its obvious you get offended when someone states the truth about the company that you want to have an orgy with. Look nobody wants to read your idiotic fanboy sh!t for they dont contribute anything and simply make you look immature and quite frankly very very sad.

[shoota33]

your an dumdass fanboy and no one care about your fanboy comments stupidass get the hell off of sony topics this has nothing to do with Ms and their xbox 1.5

[Jay da 2KBalla]

Just shutup dumbass. All you do is make insults and they are old.

[TheMART]

Gametime=ssj

So go and shut up yourself with the PSZero that you don't even have in hands at this time at all.

And go watch yourself again: gggeeeeeeeee!!!

http://www.pwned.nl

[Dragonopolis]

GTA sucks. Poor excuse for a game. For gamers who can't hack enemies with real AI and weapons that actually can do you harm. Vehicle Part is wanna be racer that never quite lives up to its potential. Graphics are all ways behind other similar type games and plot/storyline is always weak. Games like this serve no point and is an insult to video gamers. We don't even need to include the pointless violence issue to give GTA series poor excuse for a video game.
Sony is right. GTA is not needed.
If you like the Auto part of GTA go buy a freakn video game that is written exclusively for That type of genre - you'll get so much more out of it.
There are plenty of violent games out and will to continue to come out that are more challenging and are more tastefully done than any of the GTA series.
Long live Sony!

[bloop]

For everyone bickering about unit sales, here's a link:

http://www.everythingandnot...

Dunno how accurate it is but sounds just about right to me.

[The Real Deal]

If that list is accurate it proves my point that the casual gamer gives you the bulk of sales in this industry. of the top 10 games they are all NES or gameboy games. lol...games that are cheap and for cheap systems. The first game to make the list for sony is a grand theft auto game which is no longer exclusive to them. WOW...Sony forgot who its core gamers are. Not the gamers in the market to spend 600 dollars on a console. Thats why the 360 and the wii are in a good position this time around. Xbox live arcade is perfect for the tetris/super monkey ball gamer. And the wii is as well. But not the ps3...thats why the ps2 will outsell the ps3. lol...think about it.

[Moostache]

Nice link...dunno how accurate that is, but I guess you can see why the franchise that sits at #2,3 and 4 on the top selling PS2 games would be "not important" for PS3....lol.

Whatever, the 3rd party games are almost certain to ALL be multi-platform anyway, so in that light it probably isn't the end of the world to Sony. But then again, they do like to crow about "exclusives", and you know if GTA4 was a PS3-only game, they would never shut up about it...

[The Real Deal]

3 of the 5 ps2 top selling games ever are Grand theft auto games. lol...thats crazy....It ought to be interesting this next gen around.

[AuburnTiger]

Actually Real, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec was the first to hit list for the ps2. Also to bring up dirt that is totally unrated, notice it says Turismo 3 alone sold the same as both halos combined. (Thank the Japanese for that)

[mephixto]

^^
If that's list is accurate, the xbox suck.

[The Real Deal]

If that list is accurate sony sucks and nintendo dominates. lol...nintendo owns 9 of the top ten spots with its hand held systems and the old old old NES. lol...thats funny. And 3 of ps2 to 5 entries are Grand theft auto games. lol....for microsoft being the baby of all the gaming systems on the list...they sure have sold millions and millions of games worldwide...what even funnier is sonys hand held...the psp...its barely scratches the list with a wopping 4 million games sold. And how long has it been out now? is that a failure? ds has many games that have sold more than all the psp games combined. Thats embarissing.