Grand Theft Auto 5 is almost 5 years old and is still having record years – it is fueled by the addition of micro-transaction based add-ons and free post-launch content in Grand Theft Auto Online. By viewing this success as a business, you can clearly see why most people believe that Rockstar Games and Take-Two, their parent company, will not be returning to traditional DLC such as Grand Theft Auto 4’s “The Ballad of Gay Tony” and “The Lost and The Damned”. These beliefs are enforced by the lack of any single-player DLC for Grand Theft Auto 5. However, it isn’t as bad as it may seem.
Speaking at the Cowen and Company 46th Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference today, Take-Two Interactive President Karl Slatoff and Take-Two’s CFOs spoke about the inclusion of traditional downloadable content in future titles, which would include Rockstar Games’ franchises. They found it “interesting” as a method of gaining additional income, and “very lucrative” as a business model and also a consumer-favored one. This doesn’t necessarily apply to Rockstar Games titles specifically, or any titles at that – it is referring to all Take-Two titles. However, Rockstar Games are the main franchises in which traditional DLC is still an option, especially with something close to Red Dead Redemption’s “Undead Nightmare”.
Slatoff also confirmed that both the GTA Online and Red Dead Redemption 2 team are kept “completely separate”.
It is still unconfirmed whether or not Red Dead Redemption 2 will feature a similar business model to that of Grand Theft Auto Online, and include in-game currencies to purchase items, or play the game to gain the currency for free. It seems to be extremely likely considering the sheer success of Grand Theft Auto Online and how it has managed to sustain itself for almost 5 years. Rockstar Games haven’t released a video game within this period of 5 years, and they used to publish a game almost annually. It just goes to show to power of free post-launch content in the age of microtransactions and keeping games sustainable instead of going for big-budget sequels instead.
Essentially, it is very good news to hear that Take-Two still consider traditional DLC an option depending on the context of the title and whether or not it will benefit them. Even though it doesn’t confirm any single-player DLC coming anytime soon for a Rockstar title, it does mean that Take-Two aren’t ruling it out.