Grand Theft Auto IV has been delayed until Take Two’s first fiscal quarter, which runs between February and April 2008. The game was originalyl scheduled to ship this October, and it was widely speculated that Microsoft committed to a September release for Halo 3 specifically to appease Take Two and give them a full month of “buzz” for GTA IV.
Take Two didn’t give any specific cause for the delay, other than saying that certain parts of the game’s development “proved to be more time-intensive than expected.”
So, if the Halo 3 release-date “strategery” is true, and if Microsoft did indeed choose September so it could make friends with Take Two, will Halo 3 see a delay into October? Could be…Halo 2 was pushed back a few weeks, even after Bungie had a “set in stone” release date. We’ll just have to wait and see, but a few extra weeks would surely help Bungie fine-tune that four-player online co-op code for Halo 3.