New York - Microsoft has paid video game publisher Take-Two Interactive $50 million for the exclusive rights to offer downloadable episodes for its "Grand Theft Auto IV" game over the Xbox Live Marketplace service for the Xbox 360.

Wired News reported that Take-Two confirmed the deal in conference call with reporters.

The retail version of the game is slated for release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on Oct. 16; the first downloadable "episodic content package" will launch exclusively on Xbox 360 in March 2008, with a second package slated for release later that year.

Take-Two says that it currently only plans to release the downloadable content for the Xbox 360.

Related Links:
http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/take_two_gets_5.html

http://www.take2games.com

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/marketplace