GTA IV, Amazon MP3 to Be in Harmony

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

I’m not a fan of in-game advertising, but in-game sales might be an idea that I can “buy” into.

The in-game radio of the Grand Theft Auto series has been a feature many have lauded, but now it will also be a way to monetize gameplay. By using a new technology called “ZiT,” a player, upon hearing a song they like, can call ZIT-555-0100 on their in-game cell phone. A player would then receive a text message with the song and artist names. If they happen to be registered at the Rockstar Games Social Club that I wrote about earlier, they’ll receive an e-mail with a direct link to a custom playlist on Amazon.com, where all songs tagged “ZiT” will be stored.

In a press release, it’s clear that the music industry is pretty happy about the possibility of monetizing in-game soundtracks. Ronn Werre, EVP, EMI Music’s Sales, Licensing and Synchronization unit, said:

“Music has long played an integral part of the game playing experience. We think giving players the ability to identify and buy their favorite tracks from Grand Theft Auto IV’s popular radio stations is a great new music discovery tool for fans and an innovative new revenue stream for artists.”

Wait, where’s the “innovative new revenue stream for us” sentence?

At any rate, it’s also cool that they choose Amazon MP3, since all their selections are DRM-free. But if this model really takes off, could we perhaps see it used to subsidize and thus lower the retail cost of games? Nah, I didn’t think so, either.