The GTA preload was expected to be released on September 13, yet according to VideoGamer, the preload date was pushed forward to September 15^5th and 16^th only two days before the official release on the 17^th. Many GTA fans were upset with the overdue delay and lashed out at GTA on RockStar websites displaying their dissatisfactions. GTA responded by making the preload available at 3pm on the Sunday before the official release only to those whom purchased the preload through the European PSN while the North American PlayStation users waited until the 16^th. The preload was so highly anticipated that hackers have posted the preload on Ustream, Youtube and Soundcloud where efforts towards damage control were taken, “…Rockstar Games’ PR team is currently trying to get rid of the Playstation Network preload archive content…”

The theory that best describes the purpose behind GTA releasing the preload (even if it was overdue) is the situational theory.

            The situational theory illustrates GTA’s reasoning for offering the preload to segmented target audiences because by releasing the preload to specific publics instead of broad publics, GTA made available the opportunity to make further decisions about the product based on the interested publics’ feedback. With the preload, GTA targeted niche audiences to get them aware of the official release. Even with GTA’s efforts of consumer research, they failed to uphold their statement of initially releasing the preload on September 13^th to everyone in which GTA then released the preload to European PSN users on the 15^th and to North American PSN users on the 16^th.

GTA acknowledged the publics’ opinions by releasing the preload first and not the whole version first. By doing so, GTA identified their active and passive publics and then promoted the game accordingly. In regards to the delayed released date, GTA used an accommodative strategy due to GTA only fixing the gamers’ complaints but not fully solving the problem because the preload was made only available to certain publics at different times. It may seem that the delayed preload was a crisis for GTA, but instead it fostered a hunger in the GTA fandom knowing that other GTA gamers had their hands on it first. This only furthered the demand because while some people were playing it and posting about the game in Europe, others without the game in North America saw their peer gamers’ experience, making them want it more.

This video explains why and how GTAV preload was delayed

GTA used Grunig’s two-way symmetric model by promoting the best mutual understanding between GTA and its publics. GTA granted the preload only to the European PlayStation Network purchasers first and others in North American later. This illustrates GTA’s implementation of a two-way symmetric model because GTA resolved their customer’s complaints by still providing a preload but only to a specified group and only days before the fifth installment.

 

By: Chelsea Lazzari