Last week Take Two Interactive announced that the October 16, 2007 release date for Grand Theft Auto IV (the next entry in their award-winning and political whipping-post franchise) was getting pushed into the Spring of 2008 on all systems because of "almost strictly technological problems... not problems, but challenges," to quote Take Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick.
Zelnick went on to say, "With Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar is setting a new standard for next generation video games. Certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected, especially given the commitment for a simultaneous release on two very different platforms. We all recognize that perfecting the game is vital and I can assure everyone it will be worth the wait. We owe it to the game's millions of fans, to our dedicated development team, and to our shareholders to make sure that Grand Theft Auto IV is a groundbreaking gaming experience that takes maximum advantage of next generation technology."
Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, added, "The new consoles are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about. Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game's fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience."
As the news spread across the lush forest of the internet so did the conspiracy theories. Why not announce this at E3 instead of showing a version of the game that was clearly not going to be ready in a matter of months? What is causing the delay so late in the development calendar? How can I possibly enjoy Christmas this year without stealing cars and shooting people? GTA IV forums were on fire with the news. The website gta4.net reported over 800 replies and over 20,000 views of their thread on the delay in less than 24 hours.
It wasn't just gamers that had opinions. Analyst for Wedbush Morgan and video game industry scryer Michael Pachter believes the Playstation 3 is where the blame lies. Pachter said, "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."
Despite the fact that it isn't official and amounts to little more than watercooler gossip Xbox 360 owners used Pachter as a battle standard to attack PS3 owners blaming them for all the world's ills. It would seem that one of the most successful and well-known (for good or ill) game franchises in the world was destroying the very fabric of the multi-console society.
Personally I don't care when it comes out and I don't care why it was delayed and why no one said anything. In my experience a late game is always better than a broken one and when a publisher takes it on the chin and allows a developer extra time to finish a product it's a sign that some part of the world is working correctly. Take Two really needed GTA IV to come out this year with the controversy surrounding Manhunt 2 and the less-than-stellar performance of All-Pro Football 2K8. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt here and wait until the game comes out before burning down our own houses and flipping over our neighbor's car. There will be plenty of other games that include shooting coming out in time for Christmas.
