Pachter poses Manhunt 2 costing Take-Two millions
Industry fortune teller, Wedbush-Morgan's Michael Pachter, says Manhunt 2's freedom of expression will cost publisher Take-Two millions -- good thing Take-Two may have gotten that GTA IV advance money! Pachter believes the game would have generated $25 million in revenues this quarter, along with another $15 million in reorders. He sees three options for Take-Two at this point:
Ship the game the way it is.
Edit the game, bringing it in line with UK morals and the ESRB's M rating criteria.
Cancel the game.
Pachter believes canceling isn't a reasonable outcome. The other two options leave Take-Two with either lower sales because of the AO rating and the banning, or increased development costs due to the edit. Pachter guesses that either option costs the company half their potential revenue. He also goes on to say that this incident hurts the longevity of the franchise, which is funny for those who feel Manhunt 2 came out of left field anyway. Take-Two can probably cut their marketing budget by half, look at all this yummy free advertising. We already know FOX News has a story locked and loaded for public consumption closer to the Manhunt 2's July release.
