One of the most iconic franchises on the PlayStation 2, the Grand Theft Auto series, was famously exclusive to the console for a time. We’ve now learned that exclusivity was struck by Sony out of worry for Xbox, their new competition back then.
Speaking in a new interview, former PlayStation Europe boss Chris Deering revealed when Microsoft was readying their first Xbox for launch, Sony went around to third parties and offered generous exclusivity deals to boost the PS2’s appeal.
As it came to be known, one of these deals led to Grand Theft Auto III launching for PS2 in 2001 as an exclusive, just a month before the Xbox came out. The game became a smash hit and led to even more successful sequels, all three of which were timed exclusives to the PS2.
“We were worried when we saw Xbox coming,” Deering said to Gamesindustry.biz. “We knew exclusivity was the name of the game in a lot of fields, like Sky TV with sports. Just as Christmas was approaching when Xbox would launch, a few of us went out to our favourite third-party publishers and developers, and we asked them, ‘How would you like a special deal if you keep your next generation game on PlayStation exclusive for a two-year period?’ And one of the deals we made was with Take-Two for the next three Grand Theft Auto games. At the time, it wasn’t clear that Grand Theft Auto 3 was going to be as huge as it was, because it used to be a top down game.
“It was very lucky for us. And actually lucky for them, because they got a discount on the royalty they paid. Those deals aren’t uncommon in industries with platforms. Including today with things like social media.”
The deal was made as mentioned before the launch of Grand Theft Auto III, before Sony or anyone else knew the game would become a smash hit and revolutionize the industry. Sony and Rockstar parent company Take-Two both lucked out on the deal as it sold more PS2s and also had a generous royalty bit for Take-Two.
All three classic games have been remastered as a package in the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition collection, available across Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PS4, and PS5. Get our review for the collection here!
