Rockstar Offered a Measly $7,500 to Use a Band's Song in GTA 6

For someone on the outside, receiving a business offer from one of the most renowned game development studios of all time might seem like winning a golden ticket – the opportunity to live in cotton wool for the foreseeable future with minimal effort. However, as a recent revelation has shown, not everything is as perfect as it seems, and the greed displayed by some developers in their business dealings with other creators can, at times, be quite surprising.

Martyn Ware, a Musician, Composer, and founding member of the synth-pop band Heaven 17, has recently taken to Twitter to shed some light on the proposition he recently got from Rockstar Games, which offered to purchase the rights to the band's 1983 single Temptation for use in Grand Theft Auto 6, most likely for one of the game's in-game radio stations.

According to Ware, Rockstar's offer included a one-time payment in exchange for a full buyout of any future royalties from the game, meaning that if the deal were to take place, the band would forfeit any additional earnings from the song's use in GTA 6.

The deal fell apart, however, when Ware was proposed a mere $7,500 for the deal, a figure the musician found outright offensive, especially when compared to the astonishing $8.6 billion GTA 5 grossed over the years. Ware's response to Rockstar's proposal was simple and succinct: "Go f*** yourself."

Following the publication, many criticized Ware, accusing him of missing out on the potential exposure Heaven 17 could have gained by having Temptation featured in GTA 6, with some even going as far as to mock the musician, claiming he had ruined his career – likely failing to realize just how long Ware has been in the music industry.

In response to the "exposure" argument, the musician fired back with another tweet, claiming that "an extra 1 million streams generates each writer a pitiful $1,000 each" and suggesting that a buyout offer of $75,000 would have been fair.

Despite Ware's clarification, the audience remained divided, with one side agreeing with the musician that $7,500 was an inadequate offer and the other arguing that Ware was being too picky and should have accepted the deal, claiming that Rockstar's typical offers for in-game radio tracks range between $5,000 and $30,000 – far from the $75,000 Ware suggested.

No matter which side you're on, it's hard to deny that Ware's tweets generated a lot of exposure and brought attention to Heaven 17's discography on their own, all without the need to accept the buyout.

By the way, here's the track in question in case you're interested in giving it a listen:

Speaking of Grand Theft Auto 6, a recent thread started by Twitter user GTA 6 Countdown, which pointed out alleged "mistakes" in the game's first trailer, went viral for all the wrong reasons, with thousands of fans lambasting the original poster for making absurd claims and attempting to break down the footage with little knowledge of game development. You can find a detailed analysis of GTA 6 Countdown's claims by clicking this link.

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