GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009): How the Stories Meet
The Ballad of Gay Tony: release and price, what it added, review scores, and a scene-by-scene table of where Luis, Niko and Johnny's stories cross.
The Ballad of Gay Tony closed the GTA IV story, and it did so by changing the mood. After Niko's weary immigrant drama and Johnny's grim biker war, Rockstar sent Luis Lopez into Liberty City's nightclubs and gave him parachutes, an armored car and a club to run. The more interesting thing it did was structural. Luis's story starts inside a scene from Niko's game and keeps running into the other two protagonists until all three meet at the same diamond sale. This page maps every one of those crossings in one table.
At a glance
| Item | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Release (Xbox 360 download and disc) | Oct 29, 2009 | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Download price | 1600 MS points on Xbox LIVE Marketplace | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Disc | Episodes from Liberty City (with The Lost and Damned), $39.99 / GBP 34.99 / EUR 45; no GTA IV or internet needed | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| PS3 and PC | Apr 13, 2010 (North America), Apr 16 (Europe); $20 per episode, $40 disc | Game Informer, Mar 18 2010; Game Developer, Jan 29 2010 |
| Developer | Rockstar North | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Protagonist | Luis Lopez, right-hand man, bodyguard and confidant to Tony Prince | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Setting | Liberty City's high-end nightlife | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Rating | ESRB M | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Metacritic | Xbox 360 89 (67 reviews), PS3 87 (4 reviews) | Metacritic, checked Oct 11 2026 |
| Units sold | Not published | none found |
See also GTA IV, The Lost and Damned and Liberty City.
What is counted, and how
Sales. We found no Take-Two unit figure for The Ballad of Gay Tony or for the Episodes from Liberty City disc, so there is none on this page.
Money. Take-Two said in June 2007 that the second of Microsoft's two $25 million payments was tied to the second episode (Game Developer, Jun 18 2007). This is that episode. The contract's exclusivity terms were never published.
Dates. Gaps are calendar days:
- Feb 17, 2009 (The Lost and Damned) to Oct 29, 2009: 254 days.
- Apr 29, 2008 (GTA IV) to Oct 29, 2009: 548 days.
- Oct 29, 2009 to Apr 13, 2010 (PS3 and PC, North America): 166 days of Xbox 360-only play.
The crossover tables come from the three games. We did not replay them for this article. Mission names and the scenes they share were cross-checked against the community GTA Wiki, which we use only as a pointer. A crossing is listed only if we could match it on at least one mission page. Endings are left out.
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The setup
In Rockstar's words, Luis is "right-hand man, bodyguard, and confidant" to Tony Prince, the nightlife impresario of Liberty City. His story, the launch release says, is about balancing the pull of money and vice against family loyalties, and its side activities include managing Tony's various clubs. That is as much of the plot as this section gives away.
Sam Houser called it "the final chapter of this epic Liberty City tale" at launch, and credited Rockstar North with the work.
What it changed
The Ballad of Gay Tony was a deliberate swing toward spectacle. The table compares it with the first episode, using only features named in the sources.
| Area | The Lost and Damned (Feb 2009) | The Ballad of Gay Tony (Oct 2009) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tone | Darker story, metal and hard rock, gang warfare | High-end nightlife, money and vice | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Signature activities | Gang wars, biker races, clubhouse games | BASE jumping, managing Tony's clubs, cage fighting, golf, dancing | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009; Game Developer, Jan 29 2010; TheSixthAxis |
| Signature hardware | Grenade launcher, automatic 9mm, pipe bombs (per Joystiq, see TLAD page) | Explosive-round shotgun, an armored APC, attack helicopters, parachute | TheSixthAxis, Nov 8 2009 |
| Mission design | No mission scoring named in the sources | Missions scored against set objectives, with scores uploadable to the Rockstar Social Club; replay from the phone | TheSixthAxis |
| New media | New radio tracks | New music and new television content | Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Format | Download, then on disc | Download and disc on the same day | Take-Two, May 26 2009 and Oct 29 2009 |
In our view the mission scoring row is the most forward-looking change. Scored, replayable missions turn a story mission into something to master rather than just finish.
Where the three stories cross
Spoilers for mid-game missions in all three games. Rows are in story order. Each row is one event; each column is the mission where that protagonist lives it.
| Event | Niko (GTA IV) | Johnny (TLAD) | Luis (TBoGT) | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank robbery in Chinatown | Three Leaf Clover | background only | I Luv LC | Niko's crew robs the Bank of Liberty; Luis is a hostage inside. In Luis's version a car driven by Niko nearly hits him, and Johnny rides past |
| Diamond buy in Broker | none | Diamonds in the Rough | Frosting on the Cake | Tony, Luis and Evan Moss meet a smuggler to buy diamonds; The Lost crash the deal and Johnny takes the stones for Ray Boccino |
| Drug sale | Blow Your Cover | Buyer's Market | none | Elizabeta Torres introduces Niko to Johnny; the buyers are undercover police |
| Roman taken | Hostile Negotiation | Roman's Holiday | none | Johnny delivers Roman Bellic to Dimitri's men; Niko rescues him from the same warehouse |
| Diamonds recovered | Taking in the Trash | none | none | Niko collects the bags in which Johnny hid the diamonds |
| Sale at the Libertonian museum | Museum Piece | Collector's Item | Not So Fast | Niko and Johnny attend the sale to Isaac Roth's people; Luis attacks it and takes the diamonds |
| Gracie Ancelotti exchange | Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend | none | Ladies Half Price | Niko and Packie McReary trade Gracie for the diamonds with Tony and Luis; Ray Bulgarin's men attack the exchange |
Counting the table, scene by scene:
| Pair | Shared events (excluding background cameos) | Which |
|---|---|---|
| Niko and Johnny | 3 | Drug sale, Roman taken, museum |
| Niko and Luis | 3 | Bank robbery, museum, Gracie exchange |
| Johnny and Luis | 2 | Diamond buy, museum |
| All three | 1 | Museum |
Two things stand out. First, Niko is the hinge: he shares three events with each of the others, while Johnny and Luis share only two with each other. Second, the one room all three stand in is the Libertonian, which is why the diamonds read as the spine of the trilogy. Rockstar's own 2010 description of the bundle, "three distinct stories, interwoven," is accurate to the mission list.
Reception
| Outlet | Reviewer | Version | Date | Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IGN | not named in source | Xbox 360 | by Oct 29, 2009 | 9.2/10 | as quoted in Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| Game Informer | not named in source | Xbox 360 | by Oct 29, 2009 | 9.25/10 | as quoted in Take-Two, Oct 29 2009 |
| TheSixthAxis | FRUIT0FDOOM (site handle) | Xbox 360 | Nov 8, 2009 | 9/10 | TheSixthAxis |
| Metacritic | 67 reviews | Xbox 360 | aggregate | 89 | Metacritic |
| Metacritic | 4 reviews | PS3 | aggregate | 87 | Metacritic |
On Xbox 360 the three Liberty City stories step down by Metacritic score: GTA IV 98, The Lost and Damned 90, The Ballad of Gay Tony 89. The two episodes sit 1 point apart (90 - 89 = 1), so critics treated them as near equals; the bigger gap is between either episode and the base game (98 - 89 = 9). For more context, see our review scores page.
Legacy
The Ballad of Gay Tony is the bridge between GTA IV's restraint and the louder tone that followed. In our reading, its scored, replayable missions and spectacle-first set pieces point forward to GTA V. Its structure points forward too. GTA V would put three protagonists in a single campaign; this episode is where Rockstar finished doing that across three releases. In October 2010, Take-Two bundled all three stories in GTA IV: Complete Edition for $39.99.
Trivia
- The disc version was the first time players could get both episodes "together on a single disc," and it did not require GTA IV (Take-Two, Oct 29 2009).
- Take-Two's May 2009 results already said the disc would be in stores the same day the episode went live on Xbox LIVE.
- The 2010 PS3 and PC delay followed a late request from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to edit some radio, TV and internet content; North America was held back too so both regions launched the same week (Game Informer, Mar 18 2010).
- The PC version on Games for Windows Live was promoted with 32-player multiplayer (Game Developer, Jan 29 2010).
Sources
- Take-Two (Business Wire), The Ballad of Gay Tony and Episodes From Liberty City Now Available, Oct 29 2009
- Take-Two Interactive, 8-K exhibit 99.1, May 26 2009
- Game Developer, Brandon Boyer, $50M 360 content deal, Jun 18 2007
- Game Developer, Episodes From Liberty City Confirmed For PS3, PC, Jan 29 2010
- Game Informer, Episodes From Liberty City PS3, PC Delayed, Mar 18 2010
- TheSixthAxis, Review: The Ballad of Gay Tony, Nov 8 2009
- Metacritic, The Ballad of Gay Tony
- Metacritic, Grand Theft Auto IV and The Lost and Damned
- Take-Two (Business Wire), Complete Edition Now Available, Oct 27 2010
- Rockstar North, The Ballad of Gay Tony, Grand Theft Auto IV and The Lost and Damned (games); crossovers cross-checked against GTA Wiki pages I Luv LC, Three Leaf Clover, Frosting on the Cake, Museum Piece, Ladies Half Price, Diamonds, Buyer's Market, Roman's Holiday (pointer only)