Comprising the aforementioned "strong pipeline" are Midnight Club Los Angeles – which is being pushed back to a Q4 release from this Spring, to keep it from being cannibalized by GTA IV sales; Civilization Revolutions; Don King's Prizefighter; additional sports titles; and episodic content for GTA IV. Looking forward to fiscal 2009, Take-Two is releasing additional downloadable content for GTA IV, the newly announced BioShock 2 from 2K Marin, Mafia 2 from the newly acquired 2K Czech (previously Illusion Softworks), Carnival Games: Mini-Golf for Wii, and Gearbox's Borderlands, which has been pushed into the 2009 fiscal year for "better balance" in its release schedule. Take-Two also plans to explore additional revenue possibilities by expanding its downloadable content business in fiscal '09.
Zelnick ended his opening remarks discussing the soon-to-be-released Grand Theft Auto IV. "A key source of value is our Grand Theft Auto franchise. It's sold over 66 million units to date. It's not only Take-Two's biggest hit, it's the industry's biggest hit. The release of Grand Theft Auto IV is now about seven weeks away and anticipation is running high both in terms of the gameplay experience that's expected and the revenue and profit potential."
When asked about the absence of Rockstar titles in their fiscal '09 outlook, Zelnick explained that there is one major AAA title coming out of Rockstar in 2009 but wouldn't release any further information (LA Noire perhaps? Nobody brought up the Rockstar title which, as of September, was bumped from fiscal '08 and presumed to be scheduled for release in fiscal '09). The inquiring analyst, eager to weigh that x-factor into his calculations, seemed unpleased with the answer.
Similarly, Zelnick would not comment on whether or not GTA IV had "gone gold" yet, but did reaffirm the title's April 29th release date. Also getting a no comment and upsetting the finance people on the phone: lack of pricing for GTA IV downloadable content. Zelnick said neither Take-Two nor Microsoft has announced pricing for that product so we'll have to wait and see.
In other Rockstar news, when asked when the company will return to the Max Payne franchise – what with a movie under production and all – Zelnick teased "we will sell no wine before its time." So he's not ready to talk about a future installment, but with the film scheduled for release next October, it's possible it won't be timed to coincide with that.
Regarding the sequel to last year's commercial and critical darling BioShock, Zelnick stated that series creator Ken Levine "will be working on BioShock 2." Though 2K Boston/2K Australia are currently working on another game, and the majority of work on BioShock 2 will be done by the newly formed 2K Marin, "that's not to say" that Levine won't have any part in it. And that's it ... we're left (overactively) imagining Take-Two entertaining a fair amount of lascivious glances from covetous courter, EA.
