PS3 may be the cause of GTA IV’s delay

Michael Pachter, a videogame analyst from Wedbush Morgan Securities, has thrust the blame for the delay in the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV on the PS3, creating one of the most agonizing delay the games industry has ever witnessed. However, he is no fanboy and seems to have done his homework pretty well before putting the blame on Sony’s mean machine. He believes that the Xbox 360 version o the game is up and kicking and that it is the PS3 version, which still needs a lot of refinement, that has caused the postponement of the game’s release. This is only one side of the GTA IV delay saga. The other side may be a contract that bars Take-Two from releasing the game on the Xbox 360 before its PS3 release. So, the game might have actually been delayed by this supposed contract.

It is hard to ascertain whether such a contract actually exists, or is it just a figment of a well paid analyst’s imagination, who is paid for churning out fancy theories. One thing is for sure that such contracts, which have money as the main driving force, are becoming a norm in the video game industry. Competition theoretically provides the consumer (Hurray! We the gamers) with options galore but it, at times, holds the same consumers at a disadvantage. Gamelords will have to choose between those few extra million greenbacks, easily earned by signing a few papers, and the gamers that are the gist of this industry.

Read [Game Pro] Also Read [Kotaku]