The next Grand Theft Auto game has been in development at Rockstar North for more than a year now, and is on pace to come out before the end of Take-Two’s fiscal 2011, according Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
Take-Two’s future seems to be a lot brighter than its present nowadays. 2009 is looking pretty grim aside from the release of Grand Theft Auto IV DLC episode The Ballad of Gay Tony, but 2010 could mark a huge turnaround with BioShock 2 and other big name titles making their delayed debuts, and 2011, well, that could be even better, if Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is right.
Pachter claims that he’s confirmed with Take-Two that the next Grand Theft Auto game is currently in development, and has been so for more than a year now. “Management also told us that the team at Rockstar North is highly motivated to get the game out, and that the team understands that its highest payday will come from working on GTA instead of any other game,” Pachter said.
According to Pachter, the new GTA will use the “same engines as the last version,” which, presumably, could mean that development will be comparatively speedy. Just how fast are we talking about, though? Like, done-in-2010 fast? Pachter doesn’t want to go that far. “When we do the simple math, we conclude that the next installment is likely to be completed by some time in 2010,” he said. “Although given the frequency of game delays, it is not clear that it will necessarily come before October 31, 2010.”
Instead, Pachter thinks the game will see release “before the end” of Take-Two’s fiscal year 2011, which begins in November 2010. That means we could see the new Grand Theft Auto – whatever it is – toward the very end of 2010 or some time in 2011. Wishful thinking or a rational outlook? Depends on how much you trust Pachter, I suppose.
[Via Gamasutra]
