The delay of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV video game for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 has fans and fanboys everywhere in an uproar. You can’t browse a video game website without running into something related to the delay. Whether it has to do with rumors of a refund regarding the exclusive downloadable content deal (which cost Microsoft 50 million) or as we are about to discuss, the many finger pointing articles being published across the web.
Some sites are entertaining the notion that the PS3 is the cause for the delay, with individuals such as industry analyst Michael Pachter stating that it is his belief Rockstar is struggling with development on the PS3 console. According to an interview with Gameindustry.biz, Pachter was quoted saying the following:
“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,”
“We think it is also likely 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, and believe that any delay of the PS3 version necessitated a delay of the Xbox 360 version,”
Food for thought? Sure, but far from a direct source and certainly unconfirmed. Rockstar has been developing GTA content for Sony since the PS1 so we aren’t buying this excuse. On to the next possibility …
Playstation 3 fanboys are outraged, screaming “it’s Microsoft’s fault” — and maybe it is. In a recent interview with GamePro.com, Microsoft Game Studios Corporate Vice President, Shane Kim was asked about a rumor that Grand Theft Auto IV would not be compatible with the Core system because the game may require a hard drive. Kim responded:
“No, we want to support all of the Xbox 360s, otherwise it becomes very confusing. We really want to avoid that as much as possible.”
GamePro then followed up by asking how the company (Microsoft) would respond if Rockstar demanded the use of hard drive to play the upcoming GTA IV. Kim responded:
“We get to make the call on who gets published on our platform … [inaudible] we’d push back on any publisher saying things like that.”
This was all the PS3 faithful needed to hear. They were now convinced that the finger should in fact be pointed towards Microsoft and not their beloved PlayStation 3. What do we think? Well, we believe that the blame may be Microsoft’s, however not for this reason. Which brings us to our next possibility …
There was a rumor floating around over two months ago that Rockstar may delay the October launch of GTA IV due to an announcement made in May that Microsoft would be releasing Halo 3 at the end of September. In a “note to investors” industry analyst Michael Pachter (now that name looks familiar) was quoted by GameDaily.com saying:
“We believe that it is possible that the company will choose to ‘throw in the towel’ on FY:07 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,”
“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,”
The rumor was denied by Rockstar, stating that the game was still on track for an October release. Fast forward a few months and Halo 3 is still slated for release on September 25th, however fans looking to take control of Niko Bellic on both the 360 and PS3 consoles will be forced to wait until Q2: 2008.
So where do we stand? It is our belief that the delay has nothing to do with a lack of hard drive in the 360 Core System or the supposed development issues on the PS3, instead we believe it has everything to do with the release of Halo 3.
That said, we guess you could say it is Microsoft’s fault indirectly — however, if this is in fact the reason for the delay, angered fans should be pointing their fingers directly at Take Two Interactive.
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