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GTA IV is gold and 'en route' to stores
Grand Theft Auto IV has gone gold and is "en route" to stores, which means any fears of an eleventh hour delay for the game can be squashed like a snitch's head in a vice. Take-Two's CEO, Ben Feder, stated during the shareholder's meeting last night that the game is in production and should arrive at retailers soon.GTA IV, expected to have a massive launch on Xbox 360 and PS3, won't be available to purchase until April 29. So, if you've got a friend working in retail who's got access to the stock room -- now's the time to tell them how much you love them!
PlayStation 3 responsible for GTA IV delay, surmises Pachter
With Take-Two remaining tight-lipped about what's really behind the Grand Theft Auto IV delay – they're going with the vague "almost strictly technological challenges" defense – it's up to the pundits, analysts, bloggers, and anonymous tipsters to give us the skinny on what's really going down. First up to bat is video game analyst extraordinaire, Michael Pachter who told our pals at GameDaily BIZ, "We think it is likely that the Rockstar team had difficulty in building an exceptionally complicated game for the PS3, and failed to recognize how far away from completion the game truly was until recently." Of course, he means really recently, since Take-Two did just reaffirm their plans to ship the game in October as recently as E3 (yeah, the one last month).We know what you're thinking: Why not release the game for Xbox 360 in ought seven, and ship the PS3 release whenever it's ready (everyone else seems to be taking this course of action)? Pachter further surmises "that Take-Two had a contractual commitment to Sony that it would not favor competitor Microsoft by launching the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV prior to launching the PS3 version," calling it "the only plausible explanation." Guess he doesn't think much of our theory that the targeting was too accurate and intuitive and needed to be retooled.[Update: Newsweek's N'Gai Croal takes a slightly different approach than Mr. Pachter, surmising, "We believe that Rockstar is having difficulty with both versions of the game, not just the PS3." In other words, no deals enforcing a consistent launch date across platforms, just difficulty in getting it ready on either. "It wouldn't surprise us if Rockstar and Take-Two had already all-but-delayed the PS3 version to triage the Xbox 360 version for this holiday, only to have their hands forced when, at yesterday's product review, it became clear to both sides that even the 360 version could not be completed this year to Rockstar's exacting standards."]
GTA IV's first episode still slated for fiscal '08
Following today's news that Grand Theft Auto IV will be delayed due to "technological challenges" until Feb. and April of next year, we wanted to know what happens to the Xbox exclusive episodes. Considering the money Microsoft put down for that exclusive GTA content, we're sure they'd probably like to know when that'll be available too. A Take Two spokesperson told Joystiq, "While we can't comment on the confidential contractual agreement, we still plan to deliver the first episodic content for Xbox 360 in fiscal 2008."Now, here's where it gets technical. We know that originally the first episode was supposed to come out in March of '08, because the CFO of Take Two said so. The second episode would be released later in fiscal '08. Take Two's fiscal year ends in November, meaning that it looks like we'll get one episode in fiscal '08 and the next one beginning fiscal '09. If the time table stays the same, the first episode will come out five months after the game is released. But they can always wake up the episode when November ends.
Take 2: Grand Theft Auto IV delay cause 'almost strictly technological challenges'
Take 2 said that the decision to delay almost-sure-to-be-a-mega-hit Grand Theft Auto IV into the second fiscal quarter of 2008 was recent, having just been made today with Rockstar after reviewing a build of the game yesterday. Saying in a conference call today that they didn't think it was "helpful or beneficial" to go in to specifics, Take 2 declined to say the exact issues behind the delays, though they did say that it was "almost strictly technological challenges." They emphasized that they're highly confident that the delay will be enough time to bring the game up to snuff and that consumers and investors would "agree that the end result was worth the wait." Chairman Strauss Zelnick pointed out that the install base for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 should be significantly larger by Q2 of FY 2008, though they insist that didn't have a bearing on their decision. One company spokesperson admitted that other publishers may be happy to see GTA IV moved out of the holiday season, saying, "I think for the industry it's not necessarily the worst thing in the world ... just to be perfectly candid."Also, it was mentioned that Manhunt 2 isn't listed for release next year, but Take 2 says that's more cautionary due to the game's ratings issues rather than an insinuation that the game won't make 2008.
Grand Theft Auto IV delayed from Oct. to fiscal Q2 '08
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/GTA_IV_delayed_until_Q2_08_by_April'; Take Two just announced the highly anticipated (and that's being cautious) Grand Theft Auto IV will be delayed from its originally scheduled October release date until the second fiscal quarter of 2008, or between February and April of '08. Though no direct cause for the delay was cited, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said "certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected."Additionally, due to the outstanding ratings problems (and surprising no one) they've also announced that Manhunt 2 would miss its planned release this fiscal year. As a result of these setbacks, they're expecting revenue of $950 million to $1 billion for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31; in June, they announced expected revenue of $1.2 billion to $1.25 billion for the year.The bad news: There goes Microsoft's holiday hat trick. The good news: More time to play the onslaught of great games this holiday season.
