Rockstar's parent company Take Two Interactive says that releasing its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V close to the rumored launch window of the next generation of video game consoles will not negatively impact sales of the game.
During Take-Two's Q3 financial call, CEO Strauss Zelnick said that gamers will not wait for a next generation version of Grand Theft Auto V, according to a report from Gamespot.
"Let's have a little gentlemen's bet," he said. "Bet there is not one gamer who's going to sit out of Grand Theft Auto V hoping that something down the road is going to come along that's better. Grand Theft Auto V is going to blow everyone away, and it will be in the market in September."
Gamespot notes that the CEO did not rule out the possibility of the series appearing on Microsoft and Sony's future consoles.
"In terms of strategy around current-gen and next-gen, we have to wait for the announcements," Zelnick said. "Look, we're always looking over our shoulder. I'm a big believer that arrogance is the enemy of continued success. But we are planning as well as we can, and we think we are extremely well positioned."
According to an article from Computer and Video Games, Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz said that Take-Two might release the game on the next generation of consoles to offset any potential loss of DLC revenue that might occur due to the new gaming platforms.
"However there is an issue in that we expect the next generation of Xbox and/or PlayStation consoles to launch in the December quarter, Creutz said. "We think the closer proximity of GTA V to the next cycle could, at the margin, impact lifetime sales of the title, though we believe that a title of GTA's stature will still be a major seller regardless."
He continued, "We think there also could be some impact on the legs of likely GTA V downloadable content as the next-gen installed base increases through 2014. However, we suspect Take-Two may have plans to eventually publish GTA V on the next set of consoles in some form to offset this."
Grand Theft Auto V will release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Sept. 17.
What do you think about the delay? Do you think that GTA5 is going to sneak onto the next generation of consoles? Are you planning to buy a next-gen console? Let us know what you think in our comment sections below.
Check out the game's second trailer below and Read about how Rockstar would like to set a GTA game in the future here.
