Nollenberger Capital Partners: GTA 4 delay boon for EA, Activision

 

With the news of Take-Two’s biggest gun in the games race, Grand Theft Auto 4 (360 and PS3) being shoved back into its holster until 2008, it’s no surprise that analysts are predicting good tidings for those who were supposed to go up against the controversial company in the pre-holiday shootout.

The analyst being none other than Todd Greenwald of Nollenberger Capital Partners, and the rival companies being Electronic Arts and Activision. So why is the delay of Grand Theft Auto 4 a good thing for Electronic Arts and Activision?

Todd Greenwald believes that it frees up budgets that had been set aside for the fourth iteration of the legendary series, and thus giving room for other blockbuster titles currently out or will be out this season. Good ol’ Todd puts it like so:

We believe the lack of GTA IV this holiday season is a clear positive for Take-Two’s competitors, namely EA and Activision. We estimate that roughly US$ 400 to US$ 500 million in consumers wallets will be freed up to spend on other hardcore games.

While it’s certainly a bit disappointing that Grand Theft Auto 4 has been pushed back well into next year, it certainly does give us gamers (especially those of us in a tight budget) a chance to splurge on other great-looking releases, with Call of Duty 4, Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed to only name a few. Let’s just hope that Take-Two won’t be pushing the title’s release date any farther.

 

With the news of Take-Two’s biggest gun in the games race, Grand Theft Auto 4 (360 and PS3) being shoved back into its holster until 2008, it’s no surprise that analysts are predicting good tidings for those who were supposed to go up against the controversial company in the pre-holiday shootout.

The analyst being none other than Todd Greenwald of Nollenberger Capital Partners, and the rival companies being Electronic Arts and Activision. So why is the delay of Grand Theft Auto 4 a good thing for Electronic Arts and Activision?

Todd Greenwald believes that it frees up budgets that had been set aside for the fourth iteration of the legendary series, and thus giving room for other blockbuster titles currently out or will be out this season. Good ol’ Todd puts it like so:

We believe the lack of GTA IV this holiday season is a clear positive for Take-Two’s competitors, namely EA and Activision. We estimate that roughly US$ 400 to US$ 500 million in consumers wallets will be freed up to spend on other hardcore games.

While it’s certainly a bit disappointing that Grand Theft Auto 4 has been pushed back well into next year, it certainly does give us gamers (especially those of us in a tight budget) a chance to splurge on other great-looking releases, with Call of Duty 4, Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed to only name a few. Let’s just hope that Take-Two won’t be pushing the title’s release date any farther.