Analyst: GTA franchise has peaked

While we still don’t know exactly how many copies of both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony have been downloaded by Xbox 360 owners, the secrecy itself has done most of the talking – and now one analyst has gone as far as to speculate that interest in the series has peaked.

Has the Grand Theft Auto franchise peaked? Given the strength of GTA IV in 2008, the question may seem misplaced,” Broadpoint AmTech’s Ben Schachter pondered, according to Joystiq. But our concern is that the very highly rated new GTA content for Xbox as well as PSP and DS did not perform up to expectations in 2009.

Now, we very clearly understand that these do not represent ‘true’ new GTA titles. However, the fact is that these were compelling titles, attractively priced, and reasonably well-promoted, yet they fell relatively flat.”

However, fellow analyst Michael Pachter rightfully pointed out to VG247 that the failure, if indeed that is even the case, of GTA IV’s DLC may be down to something far less sinister – the game is so big that few people have finished it.

GTA IV was at least a 50 hour game, in contrast to the typical Call of Duty which is a six to ten hour game,” he told VG247. Almost anyone who bought COD finished it, and if they liked it they were interested in DLC.

On the other hand, my guess is that fewer than 20 per cent of GTA owners finished the game so fewer were interested in DLC. I think that is a fair assessment, and don’t think that the slow pace of DLC sales reflects poor performance for the franchise.”