14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Take Two has put out its latest positive financial results, showing an increase in profit in a year which did not feature a GTA game, and talked about plans for the rest of 2011 and it did all that without officially mentioning anything about the much-awaited Grand Theft Auto V.
Take Two only mentioned that its relationship with developer Rockstar meant that the team would be given as much time as needed in order to create a great experience.
And two analysts looking at the company have different opinions on when the new GTA title could be announced and released.
Doug Creutz, who is watching the video game industry for the Cowen Group, has said that a pre-April 2012 launch date for Grand Theft Auto V is “highly unlikely” because no official announcement has yet been made by either Rockstar or Take Two.
But Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan says that the game could arrive soon because a contract between the publisher and GTA masterminds Dan and Sam Houser expires in the first month of 2012.
He says, “It seems rational to us that Take-Two management would have entered into the three-year contract only if there was some required delivery of GTA. Equally, it makes sense that the three key employees would be motivated to deliver a GTA title before the expiration of their contract, in order to gain negotiating leverage for the next contract.”
Pachter also sees hope for an early GTA launch in the lack of news linked to the much-delayed Max Payne 3, suggesting that the team that was working on the game might now be reassigned to the GTA project for the time being in an effort to complete it as quickly as possible.
In the coming months Take Two plans to launch titles like Top Spin 4, Duke Nukem, XCOM and Spec Ops.