Despite the incredible market dominance Sony enjoyed in the early 2000s, the company still felt a significant threat from Microsoft with the launch of the Xbox. This was one of the reasons they secured PlayStation exclusivity for Grand Theft Auto. Former PlayStation Europe head Chris Deering recently revealed this during an interview, where he said:
“We were worried when we saw Xbox coming. 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 favorite 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?'”
Deering went on to explain how one of these discussions was with Take-Two, who at the time was deep into development on what would become Grand Theft Auto 3.
“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.”
As a result, Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas were initially launched as exclusive titles for the PlayStation 2 during the early 2000s.
What are your fondest memories of the Grand Theft Auto games on PlayStation 2? And how do you think things might have played out if Microsoft and Xbox had secured the exclusivity instead?