- PlayStation felt threatened by Xbox’s entry into the gaming industry over two decades ago.
- This led to the gaming giant pursuing exclusivity for various IPs, including GTA.
- GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas launched as PS2 exclusives during the early 2000s.
The GTA franchise is unparalleled in its global popularity within the industry today. As evident by the reactions to the first GTA 6 trailer, this series has been a major part of gaming culture and entertainment for decades.
Much of GTA’s legacy is also tied to PlayStation. With fan-favorite titles like GTA 3 and San Andreas launching as PlayStation exclusives, fans on this platform have a long history with the series. According to a new interview, this relationship may never have existed without Xbox.
Why it matters: PlayStation’s early focus on exclusivity continues to bring positive results to this day.
According to Chris Deering, the former president of PlayStation Europe, the company has always prioritized exclusivity.
PlayStation’s early focus on exclusives helped the PS1 become a standout success and ensured the PS2 sold 160 million units altogether. However, the company still felt threatened by Xbox’s initial entry into the industry.
As Chris Deering points out, Xbox’s threat compelled PlayStation to pursue exclusivity deals for various third-party IPs before the PS2 generation kicked off, and GTA ended up being one such franchise.
We were worried when we saw Xbox. A few of us went out to our favorite third-party publishers. One of these deals was for the next three Grand Theft Auto games.
-Chris Deering
PlayStation’s agreement with Take-Two guaranteed exclusivity for three major releases, including GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. While all of these would later arrive on Xbox, the GTA series had already become synonymous with Sony’s gaming platform by that point.
This information becomes all the more interesting when considering that Xbox had previously turned down an exclusivity offer for GTA 3. Microsoft thought the game sounded too good to be true.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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