Despite the financial success of the cross-platform Grand Theft Auto IV, the exclusive episodes The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and The Damned have failed to sell as well as publisher Take-Two had hoped. Attributing the sales slump to a delayed launch pitched too far past the core title’s release, CEO Ben Feder told investors “both we and Microsoft believe there was a big market for GTA IV episodic content” before weeping uncontrollably into his hands at Take-Two’s burgeoning $138 million fiscal loss.

Feder explained “Episodes From Liberty City seems to have been most appealing to those who have finished GTA IV and wanted more story and gameplay”, presumably allowing the crowd to sit, mouths agape, at the shock revelation. However, Feder followed with the genuinely surprising statement that the market for such content was “smaller … than initially expected”.

Microsoft allegedly forked over a startling $50 million to retain exclusivity rights over GTA IV DLC, a figure high but excusable back in the midst of next generation GTA fervour. Now, a year on from the game’s original spring 2008 release, the figure acts as a sobering reality check for all parties involved as the retail collection slides into necessary physical production in order to salvage the previous download-only revenue stream. Current analyst figures peg the compilation as having sold around 100,000 copies after its first month in North America: hardly respectable when placed against GTA IV’s then record breaking day one worldwide sales of 3.6 million.

Desperately positive Feder countered that “there’s very little precedent for this type of episodic content at the price point that we offered it”, suggesting that the titles would enjoy continued sales as with prior GTA releases. However, it is the worryingly low number of early adopters that best sets the titles apart from previous entries in the series. The expansions, currently unrivalled by swathes of full retail titles for sheer content and value, were received well by critics and community alike and yet somehow, whether attributable to reduced marketing or experimental means of distribution, failed to earn their anticipated keep.

Of course, at least half of the posted loss can be directly linked to one-click micro-transactions stealing the adolescent thrill of purchasing an 18 rated game by plonking a comedy sized key-chain on the desk and murmuring aloud about car interiors and brands of beer. As few bother to acquaint themselves with Johnny Klebitz and Luis Lopez it seems that despite Hollywood budget and Rockstar’s perilous attention to microcosmic detail, 13 year olds need more than a re-skinned avatar placed in streets of deja-vu to have a good time.

Via: 1UP