By now you’ve probably heard the sad news and might also have just recovered from the fetal position – yes, Grand Theft Auto 5 has been officially delayed until September 17.
From an official standpoint, it’s not so bad, as the game wasn’t really expected until the summer anyway. That said though, Rockstar admits it’s about four months later than they had originally planned to have it shipped. However with rumors swirling recently that several outlets had official confirmation of March/April release dates for the game, the extra six month wait is a real kick in the cajones.
The announcement was of course accompanied by the usual panoply (not to be confused with Monopoly) of grandiose statements; that they have been working their butts off to release the game in time but couldn’t, that the game was being delayed to make it the best game in the history of the universe, blah blah blah.
Was that the real reason for the delay though? Or is there something else afoot? Something more shady and conspiracy-theory-like? Well, with the announcement coming shortly after swarms of announcements and renewed speculation about the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720, some analysts have jumped on the idea that the delay (which has caused Rockstar parent company Take-Two’s stock to plummet like an unpilotable Dodo) is so that Rockstar can instead port the game to the next generation consoles.
Rockstar quickly shot down the new rumors in a post on the official delay announcement page (which has a few thousand comments from a few thousand disappointed gamers) stating:
Hey all, we understand many of you guys are disappointed with this news – unfortunately sometimes such delays are necessary in all forms of entertainment, and especially in the case of a game experience as massive and complex as GTAV. To those of you saying or seeing various conspiracy theories about there being some other ulterior motive for this delay, rest assured that they’re all nonsense – literally the only reason we’ve delayed the release is because we want the game to be as good as it needs to be.
In this case, it seems more likely that Rockstar is being truthful on the matter and that there’s nothing else going on but slow-pokish work and a commitment to quality. To think they’d divert attention away from such a massive undertaking, which they’ve been working on for several years, so they can rush ports for the next-gen consoles, seems rather unlikely (and something only an analyst could dream up).
The reality is that Grand Theft Auto needs no sales help from next-gen consoles, and the idea that its sales and the sales of future DLC will be diminished by their release is a little absurd. This is going to be the game everyone wants to play come September 17, no matter what system it’s on. GTA V will sell 10 million copies long before the next-gen consoles are even released, and if the game lives up to expectations, its DLC will not be forgotten just because new consoles have launched.
Now let’s just hope for no more delays, and a monumental beast of a game for our PS3’s and Xbox 360’s come September!
image: gta5cheats.com / rockstar games