After constantly denying rumors of a delay in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV game for PS3 and XBox 360, Take Two today did an about face and officially confirmed that the game will not be released until Fiscal Year 2008. The new release timeframe is Q2 2008, which means February - April 2008 according to their fiscal calendar.
Take Two's announcement attempted to deflect criticism of the delay by promising a better game in the end:
"Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, stated, "With Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar is setting a new standard for next generation video games. Certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected, especially given the commitment for a simultaneous release on two very different platforms. We all recognize that perfecting the game is vital and I can assure everyone it will be worth the wait. We owe it to the game's millions of fans, to our dedicated development team, and to our shareholders to make sure that Grand Theft Auto IV is a groundbreaking gaming experience that takes maximum advantage of next generation technology."
Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, added, "The new consoles are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about. Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game's fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience.""
Whether the delay will actually lead to a better game remains to be seen, but it's definitely sad news for fans of the series, who were eagerly awaiting the October release of the game. On the upside, Take Two did announce that LA Noire (another upcoming Rockstar title) would be a PS3 exclusive.
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