Like a washed up superstar, Grand Theft Auto IV continues to drop in NPD figures. This Axl Rose of video games came on strong and sputtered out into oblivion with barely a notice, leaving the spotlight and all hype behind it. This drastic fall may hurt any negotiations “behind closed doors” with Electronic Arts and their constant attempts to take over Take-Two.
Prior to the release of GTA IV we, in our gaming podcast, predicted a huge launch would up the anti against the bids on Take-Two from EA but things didn’t work out exactly as we expected. Although the game has sold 8.5-million units, it might not add any new bargaining power to the back door negotiations.
A game company is only as good as their games. A hit title which dies out quick helps financially guide the future of the company; technically the future isn’t so bright. With the title quickly falling off the top game sales charts we may never see it hit record sales figures to match that of smaller titles. Having one hot title every four years that “breaks records” for a week isn’t a strong weapon against a low bid from a larger publisher.
While EA may not have any record setting “one week” sales titles yet, they do have a consistently strong set of titles which stick on the charts for months with newer titles arriving to take their spot when they fade. The same can be said for a few other notable publishers, Activision and Ubisoft. To survive in the hot game industry, especially with market downturns, one must have a cycle of great games to publish throughout the year consistently year-over-year in order to provide evidence of their financial stability.
Assuming the bid won’t raise for GTA IV, where does that leave Take-Two? Perhaps Take-Two is better off under the umbrella of Electronic Arts after all. The waters are getting more hostile in the industry as companies compete for gamers attention with 100-million dollar titles and casual games and game consoles (read: Wii) start to build a whole new none-gamer-style momentum.
Is Take-Two better off under the EA brand?
It seems Spore was the staging point for the SecuROM revolt and the massive amazon 1-star reviews and backlash have not gone on deaf ears. Electronic Arts has opted to leave SecuROM out of The Sims 3, an upcoming release for just that reason.
@WatchDogs – The problem with MS cloud computing is similar to PS Move. If it’s not obligatory or bundled with the system the install base is lower so the devs are less inclined to develop for it. Kudos to Ubisoft for taking advantage of the cloud but it is true that for users with slower Internet connection, the ‘dynamism’ may not be as improved as they say.
@Sony Dualshock4 – I’m pretty sure this can be fixed with a firmware update or at least I hope it can. There has to be a hardware option to do that – I understand that it’s the software that’s not allowing it at this point. As far as the battery lifetime goes, I have to say I’m satisfied with Dualshock 3. True, it’s a pain in the butt that you can charge it with the system off. I own two controllers so if one runs out of juice I plug it in and use the other one. As a last resort I could play with the controller plugged in but it rarely comes to that. Having said that, I hope it will be possible to charge the new controllers with the PS switched off.
@Indian prices – I agree with Jonah that EA could verify their customers somehow. A credit card would be the easiest way out although a mail-in method would also work. Punishing those people just because some idiots from the other side of the world take advantage of the system is precisely why EA gets all the ‘accolades’ it gets year in and year out. #WorstCompany
@Vita – it’s true that there aren’t many or even a few AAA Vita games in development but I like to be more optimistic. I hope that Vita will gain popularity with the new Playstation and once the install base grows, developers will notice that it makes sense to make games for the handheld.
Also, bringing back older games makes sense in this context. For people who buy PS4 and don’t have PS3 right now, Vita could be the way to experience the great PSN games such as Dead Nation (YEAH!) or Guacamelee.
By the way, have you played Velocity Ultra on the Vita? Look below.
@QOTW – I have to say Velocity Ultra. It’s a great vertical shoot’em up for the Vita. However, it has a twist in that your ship can teleport through walls and other obstacles. It’s easy to learn, more difficult to master, it has achievements and trophies and it requires a lot of skill if you want to complete all the stages flawlessly.
@Dynamicism (is that a word?)
OMFG!!! Dynamic water!!! I wonder if it involves advanced fish AI? Having a marginally better environment won’t sell the console. It sounds like a cool gimmick, but just like in GTA, rushing through the city at high speed you won’t even notice it.
@Matrick
If I would not care any harder, I would
start sucking in other people’s cares and turn UK into a country full of apathetic pricks (i.e. France). I don’t tend to place names to faces in the video gaming business. For me he will always be that smug short guy who wasted a lot of time on conferences talking crap no one cared about.
@PS controllers
Don’t care. I bought an adaptor that lets me plug in my Xbox 360 and PS2 controllers into my PS3. Haven’t used the official PS3 controller ever since. If I get a chance to do so with PS4 I will gladly. Dual shock controllers overstayed there welcome; a relic of an era long past that should have been redesigned at the PS3 stage.
@favourie Indie game
I played 2 in the last year. Both of them were rip offs of another series. CastleMiner Z is a Minecraft clone which focuses less on building and more on mob survival. It has craftable guns and loads of zombies to shoot. Another game is White Noise; a Slender rip off. Almost the same but has coop which results in some hilarious gags. I tend to turn to indies because a lot of them have coop support. Most mainstream titles just concentrate on pvp multiplayer.
Candlejack is such a lame meme. Look. I said Candlejack and I am still here. It’s not like I am making fun of Vladimir Puti-
In Soviet Russia, Candlejack is abducted by you.