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GTA IV Delay Rumoured

Posted by Zonk on from the waiting-for-your-new-car dept.

This past weekend Gamespot did a Rumor Control article on the possibility of a delay in GTA IV's release. Michael Pachter, of Wedbush Morgan Securities, predicted that the Take-Two board shakeup would result in some game cancellations and (in GTA's case) some delays. The article points out that the rumour is as-yet unconfirmed. The company has gone on record as saying, that the game would still release in October (the expected launch month), but that doesn't necessarily rule out Pachter's scenario. "'We believe that it is possible that the company will choose to 'throw in the towel' on [its 2007 financial year] by shifting the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV by a few weeks, increasing the losses incurred this year and improving the company's prospects for FY:08.' Take-Two's financial year ends on October 31, 2007. Pachter gave another rationale for a GTA IV delay: namely, that moving it to early November would put more space between GTA IV and Halo 3, which is arriving September 25. 'We believe that a two-week delay would provide a reasonable gap between the launch of Halo 3 and the launch of GTA IV, and would actually help sales of both games,' he said."

7 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Has it ever NOT happened? by travdaddy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, has any highly anticipated game ever NOT been delayed? I don't think this guy is really going out on a limb here.

    --
    Adidas To Bring Back Sneakernet
  2. Helping Halo3? by neumayr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why would it be in Take-Two's interest to help boost the sale of Halo3?

    --
    Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
    1. Re:Helping Halo3? by Steeltalon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not helping Halo. It's recognizing that they'd both lose if they came out at the same time since people are more likely to be able to buy one or the other at a given time. This way they each get their own rush.

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      Regards, Ian
    2. Re:Helping Halo3? by British · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What about holliday sales? I could see a lot of consoles being sold around Christmas time just for playing GTA4 or Halo 3. Heck, I caved in and bought a PS2 just to play GTA3 when it looked like no PC release was in sight, and never looked back.

  3. Noooooooo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This just means politicians will have to wait a few more weeks to find a new scapegoat for all of the problems in the world.

  4. Re:Not gonna happen by palewook · · Score: 3, Insightful

    if they did delay it to tighten the code, nobody is going to boycott the game. its going to sell crazy numbers the day it goes gold. shipping it in a nonworking manner could be bad for long term sales though. sometimes a small delay beats mountains of patches. poor launch code has killed one or two anticipated releases. patching after the fact isnt always good for business.

  5. Okay by DaveCBio · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anyone that takes Pachter seriously ought to have their noggins examined. The guy is about as accurate as a coin flip or a Magic 8 Ball (tm). Over the years I've seen him quoted again and again and he's almost always been wrong. It's possible that I haven't seen his correct predictions, but anyone that knows anything gaming industry usually scratches their heads when they read quotes from him. In conclusion, you can spell analyst without the "anal" and he's got plenty of it.