Rockstar has quite a few reasons to target such a release date for GTA V

Mar 17, 2012 06:31 GMT  ·  By

Rockstar Games’ long awaited Grand Theft Auto V title might finally appear in early 2013, at least according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, who highlighted quite a few reasons why such a launch makes sense.

GTA V is definitely one of the most anticipated games of the year, as developer Rockstar generated a huge amount of hype in late 2011 when it revealed the first video of the game.

Since then, the company, together with the title’s publisher, Take-Two, has been silent, saying only that more Grand Theft Auto V details will be revealed when the time is right, alongside an actual launch date.

Now, according to Sterne Agee’s Arvind Bhatia, it seems that GTA V will be released in the first quarter of the 2013, between the beginning of January and end of March.

The analyst revealed, via GamesIndustry, that several reasons make this course of action ideal for Rockstar and 2K, including:

- a less crowded window away from the big holiday releases such as Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed etc. Recall, the previous GTA title (GTA IV) was released on April 29, 2008, i.e., also away from the holiday period; - smoother earnings in Financial Year 2014 especially if GTA V launches in the last month of FY13 (March 2013); in other words it will result in stronger GTA V catalog sales in FY14; - a larger installed base including the potential for launch on Nintendo Wii U; - an extra couple of months to polish the game. While an early 2013 definitely makes sense, given the reasons mentioned by Bhatia, Rockstar won’t feel pressured by the competition no matter what release date it pins on GTA V, as the game can easily outsell pretty much any other title that’s coming out this year.

As of yet, however, no official details are known, so it’s still a guessing game until Rockstar and Take-Two officially unveil the full details about Grand Theft Auto V.