Grand Theft Auto V for PC and Wii U "Up For Consideration"

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Grand Theft Auto V for PC and Wii U "Up For Consideration"


Dan Houser says the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have "plenty of power" and offer Rockstar a much larger potential audience for the next GTA.

The general consensus seems to be that it's time for the current generation of consoles to make way for the next. Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser doesn't sound quite so convinced, however. Echoing comments he made to Famitsu last week [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120633-Rockstar-Boasts-That-Now-is-the-Best-Time-for-Xbox-360-PS3], he said there's still "plenty of power" left in the old boys and that they afford Rockstar the opportunity reach the widest audience possible.

"We don't feel there are that many limitations. We feel we can do some very impressive stuff and do it for a large audience," he told IGN. "There'll be a much larger audience on PS3 than there will be on PS4. At a creative level, which is the most important for us, we could say everything we wanted to say and do everything we wanted to do on these machines."

Given the concern with the size of the potential audience, you'd be forgiven for wondering why Grand Theft Auto V has been announced for the 360 and PS3, but not the PC or Wii U. Unfortunately, Houser wasn't terribly forthcoming on that front.

"Everything else is up for consideration. That's all I can give you," he said. "The main thing is we are not... we are a third-party publisher. We're not Nintendo, we're not Sony, we're not Microsoft. We love all of them in different ways. But we can do what we want wherever there's the appropriate business opportunity and chance to find a market. If that's on Apple we put something on Apple. Wherever it might be."

Source: IGN [http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/17/gta-v-burning-questions-answered]


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fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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They won't admit to it, but a PC GTA 5 is probably not going to happen.

GTA 4 sold less than a million copies on the PC in it's first year, the console versions sold ten million copies in four months (each having a higher trade and retail price than the PC version).

As much as this deflates my PC gamer ego, when asked about a PC release for GTA V, Rockstar's correct answer should be what is the point?
 

Omega500

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Dec 2, 2009
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I will b e extremely disappointed if its only on those consoles. I have a PS3 but i would much prefer to play it on my PC cos it will look loads better. and i can still sit on my sofa duel screen it and play with 360 pad.

I do hope it will be on PC and not a horrible port I will wait few months prob till winter if it aint out then i just wont bother as i know it will look dated on my ps3
 

rodneyy

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Sep 10, 2008
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fix-the-spade said:
GTA 4 sold less than a million copies on the PC in it's first year, the console versions sold ten million copies in four months (each having a higher trade and retail price than the PC version).
if they were released at the same time then maybe those numbers would be more usfull but when it was 7 months later when gta 4 came to pc and was rapped in GFWL thats going to put some people off and if they had already bought it on something else why get it in pc as well
 

wetfart

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Weren't there a lot of problems with GTA4 on PC? Weren't there a lot of bugs and a lot of users complaining about how they couldn't run it to the point where Steam was giving refunds? I imagine that they're trying to avoid that again.

Since I do most of my gaming on PC, I guess that means I won't be playing GTA5 then. Lucky for me I still have my copy of Vice City. :)
 

Callate

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fix-the-spade said:
They won't admit to it, but a PC GTA 5 is probably not going to happen.

GTA 4 sold less than a million copies on the PC in it's first year, the console versions sold ten million copies in four months (each having a higher trade and retail price than the PC version).

As much as this deflates my PC gamer ego, when asked about a PC release for GTA V, Rockstar's correct answer should be what is the point?
It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, though, isn't it? You release the game eight months after people have the opportunity to play it on other systems, saddle it with two layers of Internet log-ins (one to a service people will likely never use again), optimize and de-bug it poorly (requiring multiple patches) and then you act surprised when it doesn't sell as well?

Don't get me wrong; I get it. PC development is harder, and a later PC release makes it less likely that the game will be on a thousand torrents by the time the first hard-copy buyer gets the shrink wrap off the case.

Still, by comparison, Saints Row: The Third released for PC much closer to its console ship date, and buttressed the release with all kinds of expansions, and by most reports, it's done very well on the PC. I think Rockstar could have a very successful PC release; they just have to put some thought into it first (read, give a @$#%.) And I know it's very "fanboy" and "PC elitist" of me, in a sense, but given that the series was born on the freaking PC, I think they owe us a little love.

Especially after denying us Red Dead Redemption.
 

fix-the-spade

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wetfart said:
Weren't there a lot of problems with GTA4 on PC?
There were, it was also wrapped in one of the most absurd DRM systems ever devised. Accessing the multiplayer took up to three separate log-ins and contained four systems (GFWL, Steam, Rockstar Social, SecuRom).

Whilst these could/can be stripped out by various means it's still a fine example of dumb DRM.

The game itself is pretty stable, it's even accepting of mods.

rodneyy said:
if they were released at the same time then maybe those numbers would be more usfull but when it was 7 months later when gta 4 came to pc and was rapped in GFWL thats going to put some people off and if they had already bought it on something else why get it in pc as well
I agree with everything you just said.

Unfortunately it's all meaningless to the guy signing off the budget, PC games are expensive and for such a small return it's hard to argue with accountants. He/She/They will neither see nor remember any of that debacle with the DRM, just that it accounted for less than tenth of total sales.
 

MisterShine

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Mar 9, 2010
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Bullshit.

I would bet all the money in my pocket against all the money in their pockets that every single screenshot and video they have shown and will show of GTA V is from their internal PC builds, and that the console versions will not look as good as these.

Mark my words.
 

teebeeohh

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Jun 17, 2009
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well rockstar really doesn't want my money and this makes me sad since i like THQ as a publisher (ok, like them because they have the 40k license, sue me), if you release the game in a shitty state and way too late of course it won't sell but this isn't 08 anymore, people stopped preaching the bullshit about the death of the Pc (fuck you cliff bleszinski) and even ubisoft only releases ass creed one month delayed (which is ok since this usually means a better, mosre stable version)

i would still buy RDR is they released it on pc right now.
 

fix-the-spade

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Callate said:
It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, though, isn't it?
Completely so.

But nobody upstairs ever seems to ever learn from it. GTA 4 pc happened less than a year after Halo 2 PC's amazing swan dive, no doubt there will be more.
 

Mr.Mattress

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Jul 17, 2009
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I'd buy GTA 5 for the WiiU. While my brother will probably try to get it for Xbox, I think I could convince him to get GTA 5 for the WiiU once he sees how better looking the WiiU Games are.

I only use PC for Team Fortress 2 anyways, but I know there's a ton of demand for it, so here's hoping for GTA 5 on PC for all the PC fans.
 

ASnogarD

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Jul 2, 2009
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Well thats Rockstar for you, since its days as DMA its been one to dump old fans and jump onto popular bandwagons.

Nintendo - PC - PS1 + PS 2 - Xbox 360 + PS 3... when it cant squeeze anything more out of the consoles it will go social and go Apple, until the next big thing.
Fans dont count in the equation.

... then again it is a business, they aint in it to have fun... those days of having fun while making a living are dead in the games industry.
I dont blame them, there isnt room for nice guys in this rat race.
 

anian

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Sep 10, 2008
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I can not even begin to calculate what it takes to port a game from XBox to pc and I am certainly not the one to get hipped for a game. Maybe you just calculated that selling and marketing for a pc port is not profitable and that is fair enough, perfectly logical move.

But for f's sake, game developers and publishers stop being arseholes, if you don't want to release it on a platform or if you don't know yet, then just say so. Don't issue this stupid statements, they're not fooling anybody who cares and the people who do care will probably not complain if you say that it's just too costly (or they will but not for very long).

And on that note, if you have some opinions about gamers or similar things please stop saying it publicly. 99.9% of it will just be annoying and hurt your brand status - I am talking to you EA, Activision, Ubisoft etc. and now apparently Rockstar.
 

RA92

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Yes, and while you're at it, don't release it on the PC before at least 8 months after the console launch, wrap it up in Rockstar Social, GFWL, Steam and SecuROM simultaneously, and make it completely unplayable on every machine that doesn't utilize top-of-the-range processors.

And seriously guys, Halo 2? If there's one genre that the PC has no lack of, it's FPS. And Halo 2 was Vista-exclusive, something that killed even a gorgeous game like Shattered Horizon. Not to mention releasing it 3 years after the XBox launch.

Ugh. I was looking forward to it. GTA is a franchise that screams for mods.
 

Griffolion

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Aug 18, 2009
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anian said:
I can not even begin to calculate what it takes to port a game from XBox to PC
Not much. 90% can stay the same regarding assets and even code algorithms. All that will change will be the wrappers for the media and what language/instruction set the code is written and compiled in as well as some GPU optimisations done for PC graphics (which, for a team of professionals of the size Rockstar will inevitably have under their employ, is not a big job).

The reason why PC versions take so long is often they are enhancing graphics and adding more features to better tax the far superior gaming rigs of today. So, much of it is re-doing that which has already been done once over.

The Xbox and PC do share some similarities, to the point where the XNA framework in Visual Studio is directly translatable over to the 360. It's really cool, you can plug your XBox into your PC and quickly compile/debug your game directly on XBox hardware (instead of the other route of going through an emulator).
 

VladG

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fix-the-spade said:
They won't admit to it, but a PC GTA 5 is probably not going to happen.

GTA 4 sold less than a million copies on the PC in it's first year, the console versions sold ten million copies in four months (each having a higher trade and retail price than the PC version).

As much as this deflates my PC gamer ego, when asked about a PC release for GTA V, Rockstar's correct answer should be what is the point?
It might have sold more if it wasn't a HORRIBLE PC port. But if Rockstar is too thick to realize that their market was pretty much destroyed by their own inept release, then they don't deserve the potential sales they can get from the PC.

That being said... I'd love GTA V on PC... IF it's done right. I have no interest in slogging through another horribly optimized port.
 

blackrave

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Mar 7, 2012
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After that horrible console port GTA4 was, you can keep that shit on consoles
I will play Minecraft anyway :)