Grand Theft Auto 4's Delay: PS3's Fault?

Development is tougher on Sony's system, forcing Take-Two to delay update, analyst suggests.

Analyst Michael Pachter believes development difficulties on PS3 forced Take-Two to delay the highly Grand Theft Auto IV for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

"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," Pachter said in a statement.

"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," he added.

The analyst also criticized the late delay announcement being that the game was originally slated for release only 10 weeks from now. As reported yesterday, GTA4 is now expected in April 2008 at the earliest.

Pachter's opinions come at a time when several third-party developers, benchmark tests, and even Sony's own admittance that the PS3 is harder than the Xbox 360 when it comes to developing games given the former's propriety hardware.

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