Grand Theft Auto IV delayed from Oct. to fiscal Q2 '08

by Christopher Grant { Aug 2nd 2007 at 4:54PM }

Take Two just announced the highly anticipated (and that's being cautious) Grand Theft Auto IV will be delayed from its originally scheduled October release date until the second fiscal quarter of 2008, or between February and April of '08. Though no direct cause for the delay was cited, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said "certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected."

Additionally, due to the outstanding ratings problems (and surprising no one) they've also announced that Manhunt 2 would miss its planned release this fiscal year. As a result of these setbacks, they're expecting revenue of $950 million to $1 billion for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31; in June, they announced expected revenue of $1.2 billion to $1.25 billion for the year.

The bad news: There goes Microsoft's holiday hat trick. The good news: More time to play the onslaught of great games this holiday season.

Tags: BreakingNews, GTAIV, GTAIVDelay, Rockstar, TakeTwo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

chenry @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:58PM

I just swore so loudly that car alarms went off three blocks away.

BNinjaC @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:58PM

Port to Nintendo wii confirmed!

required @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

if they port to psp then I agree since the wii is nearly on par with it graphically

elementrider @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:09PM

i demand a demo

PSN: ummfada @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:07PM

WIITF?

3cubed minus 3squared plus1 @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:11PM

That would be sweet.
Hell I'd be happy with a San Andreas port!

Randy @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:14PM

It's taking them longer than they thought it would to hide Hot Coffee 2

john @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:12PM

The funny thing is that this kind of game actually works pretty well on the Wii. See Godfather and Scarface. Average games, but the control scheme fits the Wii controller quite well. Now that Manhunt is on indefinite hold, it looks like Rockstar is going to test the waters with the Bully port. Maybe once the Wii install base grows enough we'll get an original sandbox game from Rockstar. That is if they don't completely self-destruct first. Get it together guys!

Neebs @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:58PM

I wonder what elements? Has to be something huge for a bump from October to like, March.

Stevo @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:16PM

I doubt it's any new content-- it's probably just what they state is the problem: something took longer than expected to produce.

Either way, I'm actually sorta relieved--with so many other games coming this holiday season-- it'll be nice to have something new for next summer.

Hobone @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:04PM

Nah, it's just the best thing to do with your release date if you're not going to be done by the holiday season. If you're going to miss some of the holiday boost, you're better off pushing back to March.

J8675309 @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:58PM

whoa

Jack @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

Sony probably threatened to own all there base if they didn't get the superior version. Prolly making them make a new engine from scratch.

James @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:00PM

I wonder why all the demos have mainly been 360 and not ps3, I just dont see much real ps3 evidence that it is a good working build yet.

marcandrer @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:26PM

all the demos.. ? there's only been 2 trailers of the game so far.

john @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:56PM

I think he's talking about the demos they show to reporters/journalists/critics, not demos that regular gamers can download.

Jermaine Pulliam @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:00PM

I just read this on Major Nelson's twitter page. I'm not surprised and at least that's 60 bucks I can keep this holiday season.

Hannibal @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:00PM

I really didn't see how it could come out in October seeing that we haven't even seen any real videos.

Then again, Halo's coming out in September. Whatever.

Matt @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:00PM

This is balls. Except now I dont have to spend as much money this fall season. Rock Band, Halo 3, Mario Galaxy, Half-Life 2 Orange Box, whew hold up a sec let me catch my breath.....ok, Smash Brothers, Bioshock, Metroid Prime 3, Burnout, Assassin's Creed here I come!

Danny Sparko @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

boooo!!!!

jimy @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:02PM

are you saying boo or 'boo urns'?

megapenguinx @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:08PM

Boo Earns?
Well I suppose he was paid for his in game appearances.

dan stabbingworth @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:21PM

I was saying boo-urns...

RoboChamp @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:22PM

I lol'd XD

Exo @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

Its probably so they can take out all the code hidden there for hi-def hot coffee

RoboChamp @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

Holy shit.

Hide the kids.

Close the shutters.

Get the popcorn ready, a storm this way comes.

Mr Intel @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:10PM

nice pic. i loved brave fencer musahieden the one on ps1 not ps2 sequal

Feep @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:43PM

Good to see someone else here at Intel is wasting the company's dollars by reading Joystiq during the day. = D

Bluebrake @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:02PM

Yes! Victory to Brave Fencer Musashi!

RoboChamp @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:23PM

Yeah, Musashi is one of my favorite games =)

Neebs @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

Actually, methinks this is on purpose. There is a mass of other AAA titles this holiday. They could just be sitting on it now.

JerJer @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:19PM

I had that thought as well. seems VERY likely. except for the "sitting" part. I'd say "refining until the market is prepped and ready for a (more) polished game".

qbix @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:01PM

That's a relief... for my wallet.

AoE @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:02PM

:'(

EMaster @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:02PM

U fucking Pinkos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't believe this!!!! On the other hand, all the other GTA titles were postponed 2 months before their release.

atlnative @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:03PM

You think they'd want it out for the Christmas season. Oh well, like Matt said there are so many games coming out, it's just a little more money I can save, (or more likely blow on another game).

manford @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:03PM

No doubt the delay is due to Rockstar struggling with fitting the game for the 360 on 1 dvd as well as figuring out how to make it stream properly for the 2-3 million 360's out there without HD's.

chathampax @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:10PM

@manford
What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah the game isn't going to fit so they have to take an additional 4-6 months...you fucking psfanboy douchebag. Oh...I almost I forgot, I'm going to enjoy EXCLUSIVE 360 downloadable content while you still waiting for good games to come out on the PS3.

mccomber @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:14PM

Thank you. I came in here expecting some "must be because of the ps3 version" posts, but you totally caught me off guard by blaming it on the 360. Well played sir, well played.

Couldn't be the fact that it's just such a huge title in general that they realized it would be better to delay it to get it right; nope, it has to be the fault of one of the systems that it's coming out on.

gullum @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:58PM

They are probably scrapping the existing PS3 version and are gonna create on from scratch tha uses blu-ray, cell and the HDD fully while giving the 360 owners a prettier version of San Andreas. They still have the exclusive dlc though.

Truepatriot @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:03PM

NOOO NOO NOOO DAMNIT NOOO!

Darkiewonder @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:04PM

Good. Because my Father will get his Bonus in january which means I can save up for this one and many more games for all threee system xD

Just saved myself 60 dollars this year. Now I can spend it on something else.

loungemonkey @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:04PM

Fuck.

will @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:45PM

My thoughts exactly.

Mromson @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:05PM

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