‘GTA V’ Developer Focusing On Gamers First
Grand Theft Auto V was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2013 and is still one of the hottest games in the industry today. GTA V was re-released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014 and eventually made its way to PC earlier this year. GTA developer Rockstar is still supporting the game and taking an active role in ensuring they provide the best possible experience for their community.
Rockstar is still supporting GTA with new and player-created content, but part of what keeps the game alive is GTA Online, the multiplayer version of GTA V that allows gamers to play with friends. Here, gamers are able to purchase in-game items to customize their character, whether it be new outfits, cars, guns, apartments, or even airplanes. Gamers can earn the in-game currency to make these purchases simply by playing the game or by using real money to buy “Shark Cards,” which add virtual currency to the player’s in-game account.
During the 43rd Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in New York, chief executive of GTA parent publisher Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, said the goal is to ensure players always feel like they are getting their money’s worth.
“You never want to the consumer to feel as though you’ve picked their pocket. You want a consumer to feel like you gave them a great experience. You want them to be happy that they spent money on the experience.”
GTA is only one example, as developers have had to walk a fine line for years between making these items useful and worth buying, and making them too useful and ruining the game’s balance and sense of progression. Ultimately, there don’t seem to be many GTA V gamers complaining about the game’s balance being off.
In fact, Zelnick assured GTA fans that his company is focusing on gamers first by saying, “[T]he more that we give consumers to do that they love doing, the more likely they are to spend money while they’re doing it.”
Rockstar’s dedication to putting gamers first is evidenced by their support of player-created mods in GTA V on the PC version. These mods can enhance and change GTA in many ways, adding even more content, improving visuals, and changing gameplay completely.
Fortunately for Rockstar, gamers don’t seem to be too upset about GTA’s use of Shark Cards. And between the success of GTA V and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which launched as a massive success earlier this month, developers might have a new roadmap on how to support their game while still selling massive amounts of copies. The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt RED is supporting their game by offering 16 free pieces of DLC during the course of the game’s post-launch development.
[Image via GameSpot]
