An analyst has said that development difficulties on PS3 forced Take-Two to delay Grand Theft Auto IV for both PS3 and Xbox 360.
Michael Pachter said in a statement: "We think it is likely that the Rockstar team had difficulty in building an exceptionally complicated game for the PS3, and failed to recognise 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 favour 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," he added.
The analyst also criticised the late delay announcement being that the game was originally slated for release only 10 weeks from now. As reported yesterday, GTA4 is now expected in April 2008 at the earliest.
Pachter's opinions come at a time when several third-party developers, benchmark tests, and even Sony's own admittance that the PS3 is harder than the Xbox 360 when it comes to developing games given the former's propriety hardware.
Comments
jed said: this is pure speculation on this analysts part because if he would do a little research he would realize that the contractual obligations are to microsoft which paid 50 million to get the title released on the 360 so they wouldnt have to wait a year after the ps3 STOP MAKING UP NEWS
fumacondiablos said: MAN THATS NOT COOL I BEEN WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THIS GAME TO COME OUT AND NOW THEYRE SAYING ITS GOING TO BE LONGER FOR THIS LONG WAIT IT BETTER BE WORTH IT IM JUST SAYING FROM THIS HIGH PRICE PS3 TO LONG WAITS ON GAMES TO SOMETIME UNECCESSARY BS ON THE CONSOLE SUCH AS BLUE RAY DISC TO MORE STORAGE CAP WHO IN HELL NEED BLUE RAY DISC IM JUST SAYING ITS A GAME CONSOLE NOT A DVD PLAYER AND WHO REALLY WANT TO PAY ARM AND LEG FOR THE DAMN DISC ANYWAY BUT SOME IDIOT THAT WANT TO ALL THAT MONEY FOR A LITTLE CLARITY THATS CRAZY