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GTA IV Exclusive 360 DLC Is Coming… 10 Months Later

November 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm · 17 Comments

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It’s been almost seven months since GTA IV was released and according to the latest word from *scratches head* USA Today, it’ll be another few months before the Xbox 360 exclusive DLC will be available.   Typically games have run their course in the time span of 10 months, it seems really strange to me that the first of two 360-exclusive DLC expansions would be released that long after launch.

Apparently Rockstar has foregone Niko in the first expansion (entitled The Lost and Damned) and have pegged February 17, 2009 as it’s release date.  I’m going to go out on a limb and proclaim that it will be released specifically at 3:42pm Eastern and Pacific, while those in Central and Mountain time will have to wait until 8:14pm (I got that information, and some new pics of Britney, from The National Enquirer.)

The Lost and Damned (which surprisingly has nothing to do with ex-lawyer Jack Thompson’s career ) focuses Johnny Klebitz of The Lost biker gang.  It makes sense to me to focus on a new character after such a long break from the game because it will draw less attention to the fact that people won’t be as in-touch with the original game’s plot details.  Since it will be new to everyone, the delay might seem less pronounced.  Of course there’s always the risk of a new character not being liked at all but I think Rockstar has proven their character development chops.

If this DLC’s development time is anything to go by, I’m wondering if we’ll see DLC pack two around Christmas 2009?  At what point do you stop caring about DLC for a particular game?  I’m really surprised there haven’t been smaller, more frequent updates to the GTA IV world.  Of course at the end of it all, I’ll be curious to see how this plays out financially for Rockstar and Microsoft and whether a deal like this will be likely to happen in the future.




Related posts:

  1. Is the idea of exclusive DLC more important than the actual DLC?
  2. GTA IV’s coming to PC, but we knew that already
  3. GTAIV Really Does Exist – Rockstar Announces Release Date
  4. Rockstar Patches Grand Theft Freeze IV (Again…)
  5. GTA IV Getting Trophy Patch, New Trophy Type

Tags: · · ·
Categories: News · Xbox 360

  • SamVII

    bout frickin time they at least announced somthing, still, I dont care anymore, and I probaly wont care that much unless there are achievements to earn, ofc :)

  • Truth N Justice

    I was beginning to think this DLC had gone the way of Alan Wake. But good point, I don’t think I could relate to the story anymore. Well here is a lost opportunity IMO, as I most likely wont get it. Thanks for the heads up.

  • mashedPenguin

    As long as it is good I will buy it.

    February 2009 sounds like a good window to release though. There aren’t many other big releases coming out on the 360 at that time. Its probably a much better time to release than if they had got it out this holiday season.

    I personally don’t buy the idea of not being able to relate to the story after 10 months. When a movie gets a sequel it is usually at least two years after the original. I don’t have trouble remembering the original movie then.

    Though it is quite possible that GTA4 is so off of peoples radars that they won’t be as compelled to buy it.

  • http://www.ollynewport.com Olly Newport

    I was wondering how they might pull DLC off. Niko wouldn’t be a viable option because his story is long gone and done.

    Price points for this I would probably be unsurprised to find it for 1200 MS space bucks.

  • Lukas Heinzel

    Its starting to piss me off that you are always the first one to complain about 360 issues.Of course you have you’re own opinon and are allowed to share it with us, but with every single bad sing which is related with the 360, you are the first one to yell out what’s now wrong…again(NXE,Campaigns,GTA IV).

    I mean, how often do you write an article that Home will released 2 years after the announcement.2 Years, thats ridiculous.

    And why am i not seeing plenty of articles written about the fact that both triple aaa titles of Sony(Resistance 2&LBP)have been sold less than 1 1/2 million…together(GOW alone=2.1 million).

    Why do you not seem to care about the fact that Sony is the third one one,the last one, the one who is ,at he current point, the loser of the console war?I mean, now we have the super titles and still they sell less than 360&Wii+plus no more ps3 sales.

    I think you’re not viewing this point of a abjective view and you should wake up and be aware of the situation:

    PS3 has lost.

    P.S. I know that the original article had to nothing to do wth console bashing,that’s just all i collected of emotions after reading all the negative articles about the 360,unaware that the ps3 is even worse in almoust every situation.I mean,the 360 will get the DL after 10 Month,but the PS3 never!

  • http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Sean “Rothbart” Workman

    @Olly Newport: I’ll put for $5 on it being 1600 points. I’m mainly trying to figure out how many they’ll have to sell and at what price to hopefully break the $50M point for the two DLC packs, figuring the first one will sell less than GTA IV itself did on the 360 and then the 2nd pack will sell less than the first one did. We’re definitely not talking 800 points here…

  • Lucifersjello

    Sounds interesting but I don’t think i’ll buy it. I notice that people complain when DLC was already being made by the time the game comes out, but people also don’t like it a year later. How long is it supposed to be from a game being launched should a significant download be released?

  • Dez

    If this was released as a retail disc type expansion no one would think that it was strange to see it come out 10 months later. I come from a PC gaming background (but am also a long time 360 gamer too) and seeing a new story arc addition released this long after an original game came out is nothing new and no bad thing either, in my eyes.

    Also, it might not be a bad thing for Rockstar/microsoft either. How many gamers have traded in their copy of GTA already? I know I have recently. How many of those will be tempted to buy it again for the DLC….?

  • wolfehound22

    @Dez true but most people that bought the game more then likely new that DLC was coming and the vast majority I believe sold there game because they beat the story and had no more interest in the title regardles of DLC. I am sure this will sell decent, but I know a lot of people did not like GTA4 since it tryed to be more realistic so it would not shock me if it did not sell all that well. And I do not see to many people that previously owened GTA4 going out buying a new one or used for that matter just to then have to go and purchase the DLC.

  • http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Sean “Rothbart” Workman

    @Dez: But Gamespot would make more money than Rockstar and Microsoft off of used sales of GTA IV.

    I really doubt tons of people would run out and buy used copies of a game just to be able to buy the DLC.

  • BT182

    nobody cares about this on playstation becuse this is the xbox exclusive and people who have it on xbox will have newer better games such as left 4 dead

  • Drauglim

    Meh, I’ll buy it once the 360 is a dead console and add it to my GTA game for it’s single player ability.

  • piston11792

    im personally may be the only person on this site still excited for the dlc. sure i havnt played it for a few months but ill be more than happy to throw down 10-15 bucks for content thats sure to be quality. i believe in the long life of games which is why i still play burnout paradise regularly because criterion continues to support it. its nice to have to buy small updates and extend the life of a game instead of paying 60 for a new game. thats just my opinion, and im looking forward to feb. 09

  • sam

    they actually gave a release date for the dlc its in February it comes out on the same day as kill zone 2 what a coincidence?

  • NoneOfYourBusiness

    I don’t think a $10 dlc mission pack to game that appears on both consoles a year ago will affect Kill Zone 2

  • Gin

    I already sold this game, because it was frickin´ boring in my opinion^^”

  • wolfehound22

    @piston I agree I do still play Burnout from time to time plus Warhawk because of there amazing support. All and all I think it really just depends on what they decide to charge for it. And how much content you get. If it is 10 – 15 hours extra then $15 – $20 not bad, but anything less really isn’t worth $10.