Take-Two to 'Throw in The Towel' - GTA IV Delayed?

One of the best game industry analysts, Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter, is making some rather scary predictions. In a note sent out on the 1st of June, he speaks of Rockstar claiming that "the company is likely to announce studio closures, lease terminations, and game cancellations during the conference call." OK, but where's the real confirmation for GTA IV's delay.

Pachter and his associates also "do not expect new games such as The BIGS, All-Pro Football, Fantastic Four, or The Darkness to be wildly profitable." And to give GTA fans the final blow, Pachter made an even scarier statement, regarding the year's biggest games, as Gamespot reports:

"We believe that it is possible that the company will choose to 'throw in the towel' on [its 2007 financial year] 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." And just so everyone's on the same level here, Take-Two's financial year ends October 31, 2007.

But I thought everyone knew already that Take-Two (owners of Rockstar) was selling out. There is a good reason however, for GTA IV's delay, which may indeed confirm it indirectly and that is the fact that a 2 week delay will enable Xbox 360 gamers raise enough money again after purchasing Halo 3. If no delay is in order, the two launch at just about the same time, which wouldn't be advisable if both Bungie and Rockstar want to sell their titles as well as possible:

Pachter stated: "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."

I'm sure that GTA IV fans are going to be very disappointed at the sound of this, but for Microsoft, Take Two Interactive and Rockstar aren't really the same thing. The game will sell like crazy, no matter when it's released and will sell even better if it doesn't launch at the same time with Halo 3.

We'll keep you posted, if anything new happens.