Potential Take Two takeover could delay GTAIV

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 8th 2008 at 4:15PM }

We're a little late on this news (we blame Call of Duty 4, wholeheartedly), but cover it we must for it concerns what may be the biggest release of 2008. Yes, Grand Theft Auto IV. Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan has a somewhat worrisome prediction regarding EA's courtship of Take Two. In a recent episode of Bonus Round, Pach-Attack noted, "I think if EA takes over Take-Two, they have an economic incentive to delay [Grand Theft Auto IV]." The reason for this, naturally, would be to debut GTAIV during the much more lucrative holiday season at the end of the year (as was the original plan for 2007). Pachter says that Take Two can't afford to delay the game on their own because they "need the money."

So there you go. If you didn't have a vested interest in the EA / Take Two saga, you do now (assuming you want some sweet, sweet GTAIV anyway). Let's look on the bright side though. If EA does buy Take Two, that means the Iron Man movie still has a fighting chance, right? In the meantime, GTAIV is still scheduled to release at the end of this month.

Tags: ea, electronic-arts, gtaiv, rockstar, take-two

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

MrQueso @ Apr 8th 2008 4:22PM

Bigger than Gears 2? i doubt it. Personally i blame the PS3 because of the first run of delays.

Nintendo is fail @ Apr 8th 2008 4:28PM

It WAS because of the PS3

The Sound @ Apr 8th 2008 5:35PM

Yes, this game IS bigger than Gears. Especially considered the number of people who've played/bought past games (20+ million I think), the amount of money MS spent to get 'exclusive DLC', is expected to sell 10+ million copies, and has been labeled as one of the best games ever from pre-release reviews.

Delays or not, the one *good* thing about delays is it gives devs time to polish a game and make it all they can be, even if it's because of 1 system.

Lars @ Apr 8th 2008 5:49PM

Well, they could have released it on 360 first, then continued working on the PS3 engine. But the way they did it is good. Instead of finalizing one version then porting it, they continued to develop the game while working on the other engine. Plus I think it's good to release a game on both consoles at the same time rather than staggering release dates. So, the 360 gets a better game than they would have gotten, and the PS3 gets it at the same time. Win-Win.

nvc @ Apr 8th 2008 5:53PM

Are you that much of a fanboy that you think Gears2 would be anywhere near as popular as GTA4? Seriously, come on...

Erik @ Apr 9th 2008 4:46PM

10 Million? I think thats a little pushing it. Most likely it will sell about as much as Halo 3 and CoD4. Both of which were fantastic. the reason being that, not as many people have come in this console cycle as the last. And in my opinion, Gears of War 2 will be bigger. Yes, I will like GTA 4, but GTA get boring after a while, so they need to add some good stuff. Hopefully Multiplayer will be good.

hunter2223 @ Apr 8th 2008 4:26PM

Wouldn't it be pretty much impossible to delay it at this point? I mean, really the publishing process has to be well under way, you don't just crap out 10 million discs in a night... that takes time.
Add in the Extra Printing time required for Blu-Ray.

I'm willing to say most everything is already at the presses, minus maybe the game itself because we haven't heard of a Gold yet, but not every company announces those.

I'm putting even money down that it comes out 4/29

Syn @ Apr 8th 2008 4:51PM

There won't be a delay. It's coming out April29th.

The manager at EB(Gamestop) after asking him about the delay said; " We actually just had a meeting about this in the morning, and it is coming out April 29th. It's just a rumor about the delay."

The Sound @ Apr 8th 2008 5:36PM

Then it would sit around in bins until it comes time for release.

I'd be willing to bet, hundreds of thousands of copies are already sitting there, waiting to be sold anyway.

Anticrawl @ Apr 8th 2008 6:16PM

It isn't even a rumor, just speculation from an analyst. An analyst who has been horrificly wrong about every gaming prediction he has ever come up with. It wouldn't make any logical sense to delay the game even if EA took over. The gaming drought is now and a big title releasing during it would sell insanely well. If it was released in the fall it would have to compete with god knows how many AAA titles.

Also what too X3F so long with this article, their sister site Joystiq has had it up since last week.

xenocidic @ Apr 8th 2008 7:20PM

Even if T2 shareholders are dumb enough to tender their shares (which I doubt) , EA would be universally stupid to delay this launch.

Trogdor @ Apr 8th 2008 4:26PM

GTAIV is going to be bigger than Gears 2, guaranteed.

If EA manages to get control of Take Two and this happens there will be a pretty large backlash....of course people will still buy their games so they won't care anyway.

pandlcg @ Apr 8th 2008 4:33PM

I'm just going to copy/paste what Gamepolitics said about it since i agree with them:

"Pachter, for whom we’ve got the utmost respect, is way off base with this one. For starters, delaying GTA IV for six months simply to tweak the 4th quarter numbers would alienate legions of anxious GTA fans and signal a very poor start to the relationship between EA and Rockstar’s edgy content.

And, frankly, EA gains an added benefit by letting GTA IV launch as planned. The company can dodge any negative political attention directed at GTA IV by simply pointing out that Take Two already had the game in the pipeline. "

Halwende @ Apr 8th 2008 4:55PM

I agree with post #6... but still...

*prods EA with a big stick*

Stay back! Back I say!

Brooks @ Apr 8th 2008 4:35PM

While it's true that it would be more valuable for EA at the holidays, and if they had acquired Take Two six months ago a delay would have been likely, there is no possible way to delay the game at this point. Like Hunter2223 said, the discs are packaged and sitting in warehouses ready to ship.

There would be enormous expense in just sitting on them for seven months, review copies (which are already out) would appear on Ebay, and the whole launch would become anticlimactic and damage the GTA and EA brands.

Not gonna happen.

RudyHuxtable @ Apr 8th 2008 4:45PM

It's hard for me to believe the game is going to be more profitable in the 4th quarter. Almost anyone who plays games will preorder or buy GTA4 within the first few weeks/months, so causing a delay would likely just piss people off, not pump them up. I personally would lose a lot of respect for both businesses if they pull a stunt like this... not that EA had much of my respect to begin with.

dylan @ Apr 8th 2008 4:47PM

not going to happen, this would also jeopardize their relationship with all video game retailers who allow pre-orders, which even the largest video game company does not want on their hands. Plus they should want to get their game out before Saints Row 2, because if it turns out to anwhere near as good as Saints Row 1 it could take a chunk out of the GTA business by coming out first.

Iliad Force @ Apr 8th 2008 4:48PM

This is one of the biggest releases this generation of consoles has seen. Its success will not be hampered by being released well before the holiday buying season. And I presume the publishing process is already well underway. I wonder how much these analysts know about the industry they're analyzing...

Josh @ Apr 8th 2008 4:50PM

oh man. it's settled. fuck EA. guess who's not selling his shares to EA? THIS GUY!

bloatedfish @ Apr 8th 2008 4:52PM

Bonus round is filmed all at once and then split up into four parts and one part is released slowly after the other. So patcher may have said this in the latest bonus round but he actually said this nearly two months ago when this would be plausible. However if you were to ask him now i'm sure he would say this would no longer happen.

Troy @ Apr 8th 2008 5:02PM

i once liked EA. Now i feel they are the catalyst that will end up crashing the video game business by buying out every good game dev, taking THERE games and striping them of EVERY good thing and slowly putting it back together with 20 sequels. EA seriously just needs to stick to Madden and burnout, the only things there good for. (which even then madden is not as good as it could be). If EA buys out one more of my favorite game devs i will seriously boycott all there games, unless by some miracle they actually make some good titles.

Rich @ Apr 8th 2008 5:02PM

If EA took over tomorrow, the game would still be released on the 29th. If they took over 3 months ago, the game would have been delayed.

At this point in the game, its simply too late to prevent the game to come out. The buzz is there, the disks are ready to go. It would cost EA more money delaying it than it ever would make in the 4th quarter.

Halonut1 @ Apr 8th 2008 5:04PM

EA needs to die in a fire.

AnOffday @ Apr 8th 2008 5:05PM

I HATE EA with all my heart. They are personally taking it upon themselves to literally destroy of possible aspect of gaming they can. It's only a matter of time before they own everything relating to gaming, and all games flat out suck.

itsburnsie @ Apr 8th 2008 5:09PM

Um, please no?

ZEBRA NINER @ Apr 8th 2008 5:09PM

EA rocks! I'm SO not ready for this game, I need more time! Let's push this back a bit, and let me finish up my other games! ;)

There is no way this will get delayed.

Halonut1 @ Apr 8th 2008 5:14PM

So help me god, if that isnt sarcasm..I'm going to your house and breaking your system.

dylan @ Apr 8th 2008 5:34PM

It's okay zebra, I know what a wink means...

ZEBRA NINER @ Apr 8th 2008 6:22PM

HAHAHAHA! Damn it! One person gets my humor! GREAT.

I'm serious though, I secretly love EA... they can do no wrong!!! EA for life! EA + ZEBRA NINER= Sweet ch33v0z. ;)

Krusty @ Apr 8th 2008 5:19PM

There will be blood...

Halonut1 @ Apr 8th 2008 5:15PM

Yes there will...

webster1990 @ Apr 8th 2008 5:11PM

Yeah, for one of THE biggest games of all time, i don't think even EA would dare to delay it.

Although it does worry me. EA has nothing to lose, everyone hates them anyway.

Jeff Tronti @ Apr 8th 2008 5:39PM

That would be just the type of PR EA needs.

Royale @ Apr 8th 2008 5:29PM

Sure, hate on EA, but I look on my shelf and a good portion of my games are published by them. Sure they have some shitty tactics, but in general, they put out good stuff.

Vcize @ Apr 8th 2008 5:54PM

Please list those games for me.

Royale @ Apr 8th 2008 6:18PM

Skate, Command and Conquer Series, Rock Band, Battlefield Series, Crysis, Spore (upcoming), Burnout, Need for Speed, etc...

The Sound @ Apr 8th 2008 5:37PM

This game will sell itself anyway. Millions now, Millions near christmas time. It's a no brainer.

smkalot @ Apr 8th 2008 5:51PM

yea... it was delayed cuz of PS3... but guess what... we own the sales worldwide now beyatches. 360 doesnt even touch ps3 now, last 3 months ps3 caught the momentum and is nowhere near slowing down. 2008 is ps3s year. plus Red Faction devs say how ps3s got waaay better graphics once they figured out ps3s complicated unrivaled processor. not to mention your bs losing the format war, blu-ray is the high way, not old fashioned DVD drives... sorry homos d:-D

Ryan @ Apr 8th 2008 6:46PM

Green apples sell more worldwide than red ones.

See that? I can make up fake stats with no validity to them too.

In all actuality, the 360 has sold almost double the units the PS3 has. But I guess you would have had to take five seconds to look that up rather than masturbating all over your pictures of Hideo Kojima while you tried to type.

Dick @ Apr 8th 2008 10:11PM

I had to be hospitalized when i caught The Momentum.

RomeoDude @ Apr 8th 2008 6:26PM

Great... We'd have to wait for EA to slap their logo all over the game...

stealth @ Apr 8th 2008 6:40PM

damn ea to hell

they ruin everything they touch

Token White Guy @ Apr 8th 2008 6:49PM

Patcher is a negative nancy. He's blowing this one out of his ass.

smkalot @ Apr 8th 2008 7:21PM

LOL! do your research 3fixme fagboy, then talk $#!+ about what i know is fact. 1. i said the last 3 months we outsold your bs. 2. yea you got more games, none of which the exclusives are worth mentioning. 3. XBL is filled with little jerkoff kids, hardly ever do I talk with lil kids on PSN, but i guess your console is less advanced, so it would make sence why so many kids buy the toy lol. learn to take facts like men, and dont be pissed cuz you lost the formar war, like i already mentioned... DVD is the thing of the past, with blu-ray you play b3yond.

Dick @ Apr 8th 2008 10:12PM

you're kinda dumb there guy. Stop Posting here.

Russ Tundra @ Apr 8th 2008 7:42PM

LOL Smoke a Dick is in this disscussion too! nice! What a Little Kid!

BowserUSC @ Apr 8th 2008 7:51PM

EA seems to be doing some really evil things lately.

Gemini Ace @ Apr 8th 2008 10:32PM

This gives me some lulz. I don't care if this game ever comes out. It just brings negative press to the industry, just like everything Rockstar does.

drew @ Apr 8th 2008 10:39PM

i cant stand ea sometimes. bastards trying to ruin everything and become like a big monopoly of videogaming. the only reason i like some ea games is because of madden. that makes me say hey this might be decent. like army of two. and then it isnt that good. but still. it would totally ruin a good april if they took over and delayed gta.