Xbox is correct now in a reasonably dangerous part. The extremely hailed console firm needed to shut down 4 of its inner studios as a cost-cutting measure. The depressing state continues as the corporate was fined a staggering $13.4 million for infringing patents in two video games.
It appears to be like like Xbox’s knack for entering into dangerous conditions isn’t a latest behavior; it carries on from approach again in 2001 when the corporate rejected most likely the most well-liked title of that point to floor on its platform.
Xbox Rejected Grand Theft Auto 3
Microsoft has a mini-documentary sequence named Energy On: The Story of Xbox, with a complete of six episodes that showcase the journey of Xbox. Within the third episode of the sequence, the previous Xbox Head of Third Occasion Relationships, Kevin Bachus, revealed that Rockstar Video games initially approached Xbox to land GTA 3 on their console platform.
@Xbox rejected Grand Theft Auto III as a result of they did not think about @RockstarGames 🤯⁉️ https://t.co/v3IKjrA1rn pic.twitter.com/nwAcTbnGLk
— JayTechTV 𝕏 (@TheRealJTV4K60) May 12, 2024
And astonishingly, the well-known improvement firm was left empty-handed. That is what Bachus needed to say about that call:
They felt that it was sophisticated. They didn’t actually perceive the interface; they thought that it was based mostly on a sport that hadn’t been all that profitable. To my shock, it was rejected.
At the moment, Rockstar Video games was about to unleash their full potential on a brand new GTA title, the place they wished to alter the entire situation from 2D to 3D. GTA 2 was a 2D sport that solely had a viewpoint from above. And GTA 3 was one thing that was for the change.
Nevertheless, the concept of GTA 3 entering into Xbox was rejected by a board of Xbox executives. They thought it could be laborious for the sport to make the transition from 2D to 3D.
Xbox Realized Its Mistake, however They Nonetheless Missed Out
Microsoft didn’t take lengthy to appreciate its big mistake. After Xbox’s rejection, it was time for Sony to wrap up Grand Theft Auto 3 on their PS2, and it went on to make historical past. This sport revolutionized the time period “open-world gaming,” with extra potentialities and freedom to finish the sport. GTA 3 would go on to promote a staggering 14.5 million items, making it the perfect sport of 2001, as lamented by Bachus in that episode. He additionally said that if one other legendary title of that franchise, GTA: Vice Metropolis, wouldn’t burst into the scene, then GTA 3 was going to rule 2002 once more, for positive.
Though Xbox initially rejected the concept of GTA 3 on their platform, after its staggering success, they couldn’t assist however rectify this error. Within the E3 2006 press convention, the previous Head of Xbox, Peter Moore, introduced that Grand Theft Auto 4 would launch on Xbox 360 on day one. Not solely that, the 2 expansions of GTA 4 had timed exclusivity on Xbox.
Proper now, each platforms have a standard relationship with Rockstar, so at the least the upcoming Grand Theft Auto title goes to land on each.
How do you see this determination by Xbox to disregard a revolutionary title like Grand Theft Auto 3? Tell us within the remark part.