GTA IV Delay: 360 Hard Drive Variable? PS3 Development Difficulty? Neither?
by Chad Lakkis on August 12, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Grand Theft Auto IV delay has everyone pointing fingers
The delay of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV video game for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 has fans and fanboys everywhere in an uproar. You can’t browse a video game website without running into something related to the delay. Whether it has to do with rumors of a refund regarding the exclusive downloadable content deal (which cost Microsoft 50 million) or as we are about to discuss, the many finger pointing articles being published across the web.
Some sites are entertaining the notion that the PS3 is the cause for the delay, with individuals such as industry analyst Michael Pachter stating that it is his belief Rockstar is struggling with development on the PS3 console. According to an interview with Gameindustry.biz, Pachter was quoted saying the following:
“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,”
Food for thought? Sure, but far from a direct source and certainly unconfirmed. Rockstar has been developing GTA content for Sony since the PS1 so we aren’t buying this excuse. On to the next possibility …
Playstation 3 fanboys are outraged, screaming “it’s Microsoft’s fault” — and maybe it is. In a recent interview with GamePro.com, Microsoft Game Studios Corporate Vice President, Shane Kim was asked about a rumor that Grand Theft Auto IV would not be compatible with the Core system because the game may require a hard drive. Kim responded:
“No, we want to support all of the Xbox 360s, otherwise it becomes very confusing. We really want to avoid that as much as possible.”
GamePro then followed up by asking how the company (Microsoft) would respond if Rockstar demanded the use of hard drive to play the upcoming GTA IV. Kim responded:
“We get to make the call on who gets published on our platform … [inaudible] we’d push back on any publisher saying things like that.”
This was all the PS3 faithful needed to hear. They were now convinced that the finger should in fact be pointed towards Microsoft and not their beloved PlayStation 3. What do we think? Well, we believe that the blame may be Microsoft’s, however not for this reason. Which brings us to our next possibility …
There was a rumor floating around over two months ago that Rockstar may delay the October launch of GTA IV due to an announcement made in May that Microsoft would be releasing Halo 3 at the end of September. In a “note to investors” industry analyst Michael Pachter (now that name looks familiar) was quoted by GameDaily.com saying:
“We believe that it is possible that the company will choose to ‘throw in the towel’ on FY:07 by shifting the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV by a few weeks, increasing the losses incurred this year and improving the company’s prospects for FY:08,”
“We believe that a two-week delay would provide a reasonable gap between the launch of Halo 3 and the launch of GTA IV, and would actually help sales of both games,”
The rumor was denied by Rockstar, stating that the game was still on track for an October release. Fast forward a few months and Halo 3 is still slated for release on September 25th, however fans looking to take control of Niko Bellic on both the 360 and PS3 consoles will be forced to wait until Q2: 2008.
So where do we stand? It is our belief that the delay has nothing to do with a lack of hard drive in the 360 Core System or the supposed development issues on the PS3, instead we believe it has everything to do with the release of Halo 3.
That said, we guess you could say it is Microsoft’s fault indirectly — however, if this is in fact the reason for the delay, angered fans should be pointing their fingers directly at Take Two Interactive.
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on August 12, 2007 2:17 pm
This makes the most sense. GTA IV is supposed to be a huge hit for T2 and Rockstar, maybe they figured it would be best to delay the release and get the most bang for their buck rather than go head to head with Halo 3.
You have to believe a game like GTA and a company like Rockstar would find the resources needed to finish the game on time if they felt it was in their best interest.
on August 12, 2007 2:23 pm
ya know, i was of the belief that it had to do with the 360 HD but after reading this i am willing to consider anything…
on August 12, 2007 2:50 pm
I don’t buy the whole release date because of Halo 3. If H3 was released in Sept. then why not release GTA4 in Nov. or Dec. that’s enough time for Halo sales to slow down. Anyway, i don’t really care since i’m not buying GTA4 anyhow. Just my 2 cents
on August 12, 2007 2:53 pm
Since the game has been delayed, ive been thinking whether they’d make a demo for gta iv, to make up for the delay. It would be cool if they were bringing it out, since Saints Row did release a demo of their game last year.
on August 12, 2007 3:03 pm
@M4I0N3
That would be sweet. Have you heard anything about that?
on August 12, 2007 3:32 pm
i don’t buy it. Why would they miss out on the christmas sales because of halo3?
There is enough consumer demand this xmas to fill both those titles and delaying it to march where sales start slowing down is not the way to go.
I prefer the rumour that it’s a development issue with either of the consoles rather than this.
This makes less sense to me.
on August 12, 2007 3:51 pm
Reply to: IIIBTW
Nope, i dont know whether rockstar may consider it but we’ll have to wait and see, fingers crossed
on August 12, 2007 4:25 pm
I believe it’s the hard drive issue. There have been rumors for a long time that T2 and R* would require it to run as planned. In addition, Penny Arcade, GamePro, and XF all said future xbox games will require the HDD.
Link to source
http://www.xboxfamily.com/news%20stories/HDD_Required.htm
on August 12, 2007 5:26 pm
Halo 3 = September 25.
GTAIV could have released in October, November, or December and dodged the Halo 3 hype. San Andreas did, and it did very well.
Halo 3 has nothing to do with the delay.
on August 12, 2007 5:48 pm
Could be possible they decided to hold it off until after the release of mgs4 and a possible surge of ps3 sales because rockstar would rather see sony excel instead of microsoft (as it seems M$ is getting the worst out of this), after all. Aren’t sony and rockstar getting a little tighter these days with them decideing to make new exclusives for ps3?
on August 13, 2007 1:16 am
If I were to belief that prolonging the game could result in higher liquid assets than I would have delayed the title, but thats not the case here, because there is only one competition to GTAIV (Halo 3) and the demands for both games are very high. Therefore, christmas its the most demanding time to introduce any games. Foolish of Rockstar to delay the title? Possibilities are not because it was too hard to develop for neither system, nor because of binding contracts, but rather that they gotten paid off by MS mainly due to the company getting rid off the core and introducing all knew 360’s with hardrives, which will make the game first HD requirement with a higher market for Rockstart and all remaining stock of core system sold out. Rockstart will be happy due to the cash cow (paid off)and more time to develop with a hard drive and MS can said that Hallo 3 was a beast in sales during the christmas period and in early Feb. will announced that there is no more core 360 and that there is requirement to play GTAIV, SO doubletime to your nearest walmart and buy yourself an hd if you dont have one. A win situation for both companies and EL Chipo gets screwed, due to ignorance or lack of funds. Heyyyyy! viva 360 and stick me until I bleed the ROD.
on August 13, 2007 2:12 am
I think the fault is 360’s lack of HDD on the core system. GTA IV is undoubtedly going to be a huge game, and fitting it all in on a single DVD seems challenging. Micro$oft just for the sake of competition wouldn’t allow the game to be on two discs, and it woulnd’t make sense for this type of game, so a HDD is very important. If developing for the PS3 was hard, Rockstar wouldn’t have agreed to develop a new franchise exclusively on the PS3, or L.A. Noire. So difficulty to develop for the PS3 is bullsh*t excuse and it’s getting old. PS3 version could be delayed 2-3 weeks for that, not 6 months!
The fault could be Rockstar’s own. Developing such a big game for two very different platforms can give any developer a difficulties. People who saw the game in action (running on the 360) said the framerate was terrible - another reason to the contrary why 360 could be responsible, just as much as we’d like to speculate the PS3 version was not ready.
Ultimately, the delay helps gamers. There’s so many great games coming this holiday season anyway! I don’t know how I’m gonna afford all of them, so I can live without GTA for a while if it means I can get an improved game when I have the time and money to play it.
on August 13, 2007 2:29 am
GTA San Andreas was huge. Did it require the ps2 using a HDD? I think not. I find it funny that everyone fears the Halo effect. Reason why UT3 and haze are releasing for 360 later. I think they delayed it because they had a contract with Microsoft to launch day one. They held it back because of the Halo effect and had to hold it from ps3 because of the contract. Remember Microsoft payed a lot of money to have Peter Moore go on stage with that tat on his arm to announce it. To clear up the Halo effect: remember a game called Project Snowblind? Many of you might not. They released it 5-6 months after Halo 2 and it bombed because everyone was STILL playing Halo 2. That was a great game. You cannot deny the Halo effect.
on August 13, 2007 7:56 pm
i think the reason they delayed it is because R* want to put so much detail in to the game and make all the other games on the market look shit
but then again they have too make that download able stuff more the xbox360 and a 6 month delay gives them more time to perfect the game
on August 13, 2007 8:40 pm
Anybody who bought the Core System has to be the dumbest gamer ever. If money was an issue why don’t you just save alittle longer because by the time you bought the system and a memory card its already close to $350 maybe if you people weren’t such cheap customers and actually bought the better value you wouldn’t be complaining and Halo 3 will dominate this Christmas weather you want it to or not so just shut up already
on August 15, 2007 1:54 pm
this is a lot of crap - the fault is clearly the problems with the PS3. All the video and pictures untill now have been taken from a XBOX360. And since Sony has an agreement with Rockstar that the XBOX360 and PS3 versions should be published simultanusly - this could not be done with the delay of the PS3.
Thats it - thats facts
on August 16, 2007 9:29 am
Look, the only people that know the reason for the delay are Rockstar developers themselves. All of the reasons so far for the delay are RUMORS. It could be the difficulty developing for the PS3. It could be the fact that some 360s have no HDD. It could be that you cannot fit the game on a DVD9. It could be because of Halo 3. We just don’t know. IMHO, I think it is partly because of the 360s lack of hardware AND because of the difficulty developing for the PS3.
on August 18, 2007 11:34 pm
hi nice post, i enjoyed it