14 DAY TRIAL // In spite of its attempts to put on a good show and look really brave, Take-Two has proven that a year in which it doesn't have a Grand Theft Auto game to publish is going to be an unprofitable one for the developer. Even with its Borderlands selling more than two million copies, the company ended up below zero on the profit scale. So, while most of us would take this as a sign that a new GTA could be ready in the near future, it looks like it's not just us amateur speculators that believe that.
Talking to Game Informer, Jesse Divnich, the director of analyst services for Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, or EEDAR, for short, said that new signs of the franchise could appear as early as the 2010 E3. "I think we're going to hear about another Grand Theft Auto," Divnich said. "I think there won't be any playable stuff. I think they'll give you some type of teaser, because we do think that a year from then in 2011 we're going to see another Grand Theft Auto."
The market analysis didn't stop here, and the next thing he brought up in the discussion was the possibility of platform exclusivity. In his opinion, the next GTA title will most likely be an unrestricted release, available on a lot of platforms. "I don't foresee Microsoft or Sony attempting to obtain any type of exclusivity with the next Grand Theft Auto," he said. "Microsoft paid a lot of money for exclusivity on the downloadable content for GTA IV, which unfortunately did little to move consoles for Microsoft."
He further added that, "Back in 2004, the Grand Theft Auto was a huge brand, but only relative to the other brands that existed at the time. While the GTA brand is certainly bigger now than it was five years ago, others have emerged to reach similar levels of success, such as Call of Duty or Guitar Hero. In other words, if Sony gets an exclusive deal on GTA V, it would do little to disrupt Microsoft's ability to move hardware, and vice versa."
So, while Take-Two's Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, strongly believes that GTA is most definitely a series that should not be made up of yearly installments, it looks like market analysts believe that the company's financial status will loosen the grip of its "quality over quantity" policy.