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Industry Fallout from GTA IV Delay
SET writes "MSNBC has an interesting writeup on the shakeups in the gaming industry following Take-Two's announcement that Grand Theft Auto IV has been delayed. The article examines the problems this creates for Microsoft and Sony, both of whom were expecting GTA IV to help boost Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 sales this coming holiday season. 'Analyst Michael Pachter told Web site GamesIndustry.biz that he believes Rockstar has delayed the game because it is struggling with development on the PlayStation 3. Sony denies this charge and said that the company has a dedicated team working with Rockstar on "GTA IV." They say they're not that worried about the delay and would prefer that Rockstar take the time it needs to perfect the game. "We'd love to have [it] out as soon as possible," said Sony spokesperson Dave Karakker. "But we've never had a single game make or break any of our platforms. That's not how we built 100 million sales of [the] PlayStation 2, and that's not how we'll build 100 million in sales of [the] PlayStation 3."'"
Ultimately, the GTA IV delay helps Microsoft more than it hurts them. Microsoft already has a blockbuster holiday season lineup in the works, even without GTA IV. Sony, on the other hand, was relying on GTA IV as one of the cornerstones of its 2007 holiday strategy.
As far as I know, Microsoft cares more about releasing Halo 3 this year than GTA IV. They are just saying it for PR purposes. I'm sure Microsoft could care less when GTA IV comes out, they have many great games coming out this year and early next year.
No, actually Microsoft made it very clear that GTA IV was expected to be one of the big three system sellers this year, along with Halo and Madden. It was important enough that Peter Moore tatooed it on his arm, for cryin' out loud!
I disagree, while they are happy that Halo 3 is coming out, their projections of units sold took into account the release of GTA IV, a very different game than halo3 (and thus attracts a different demographic), and will therefor have implications on bottom line, and shareholder expectations.
With everything going on recently, including the extended warranties, reversal on Xbox 360 not needing an HD, and GTA IV not being released... Microsoft can't be very happy about much right now.
Gamers on the other hand, can be happy about a lot of cool games coming out, regardless of GTA IV.
The 360 will have Halo 3. The Wii will likely have Mario Galaxies and possibly even Super Smash Brothers Brawl. And the PS3 will have... what? How many crappy holiday seasons can Sony survive?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
All Halo 3 does is give Microsoft the fans that they already have. GTA4 gives them new users. I don't think it's going to have a major effect since the XBox always got GTA games after a while anyway, but it's going to be a bigger effect on system sales than Halo 3. Halo 3 was always going to be about the sales of the game itself, the profits of which MS gets to itself.
Rob
What with all the crazy shit coming out in the next few months for the 360, PS3, and the Wii, the last thing that I needed was another game that would suck up 40-60 hours playtime...this at least gives me (and many others) a chance to play through all the stuff coming out by the end of the year.
Take your time Rockstar. We will buy it regardless of when you release it.
Living With a Nerd
The idea that the PS3 is responsible for the delay is unfounded speculation. It would be just as valid to suggest that the XBox 360 is causing problems with its inferior media capacity, or that Rockstar itself simply underestimated how much work the project would involve. Unless Rockstar itself reveals what's going on, we're never going to know the truth.
Rob
So some random analyst assumes the PS3 is the problem, and it ends up in the flamebait summary even though a VP at Rockstar says they haven't figured out how to deal with the lack of hard drive in the Xbox 360?
Why doesn't the summary mention that Microsoft is considering allowing games which require the hard drive, possibly in response to these issues with GTA IV? Instead it just trash-talks the PS3. Lovely.
" ...That's not how we built 100 million sales of [the] PlayStation 2, and that's not how we'll build 100 million in sales of [the] PlayStation 3."
If the PS3 hits 100 million in sales, I promise you Sony, I'll go out and buy two.
A multi-platform game isn't the cornerstone of anybodies holiday season. If the game is the same on both platforms it shouldn't help sales of one any more than the other.
However in the case of GTA IV, there's Xbox exclusive content, but no PS3 exclusive content. If anything it would have helped Xbox sales, not PS3 sales. A delay of GTA hurts MS more than Sony, but it really doesn't hurt either of them much at all relative to each other.
There have been plenty of demos of GTA4 running on the Xbox 360, but none of it running on the PS3.
That may be because the engine that GTA4 uses was made for an earlier 360 game. This leads to another valid argument: The PS3 version is taking longer to develop because of difficulties in porting the engine. These difficulties would be the same if the engine had originated on the PS3 and needed to be ported to the 360, so it's not a problem with the PS3.
It's safe to say that the cause for the delay is the well-known difficulty of developing for the PlayStation 3.
I remember that the PS2 also had a "well-known difficulty" of development, but that didn't seem to affect it so much.
Rob
I think what he's saying is that if there's 30 great games out for the XBox360, not having a 31st great game isn't all that much. However, if the PS3 only has 10 great games, then not having an 11th great game is three times worse. I'm pulling those numbers out of a .cx domain, but that's the gist of it.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Though not really related to anything, I'll see your "Order of Magnitude" and raise you a "Mathematical Base".
A multi-platform game might be a corner-stone when you don't have that many other games coming out, and the game in question is a huge name like GTA. I bought my PS2 because I wanted GTA3. When GTA IV comes out, I will want it, and my Wii won't run it. So I'll likely end up buying either a 360 or a PS3. I'm not sure which one I'm going to get right now, but Sony's chance of selling me a PS3 will go from approximately 0% right now to somewhere around 50%.
Sony needs more excellent games for the PS3. Exclusives are best, but multi-platform doesn't hurt.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Sorry for the wild speculation here, but are you an armchair game developer, or have you ACTUALLY used the PS3's SDKs? Last I heard from industry sources, the PS3 dev kits come with amazing APIs, its just that Microsoft's dev environment is more familiar to Windows game developers. Sony also promised to work on these issues, I'm not denying them, but what's your source exactly? Or are you just repeating FUD you read somewhere else?
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)