GTA IV holds the market in its grip

I think that anyone who has something with gaming, now by: Grand Theft Auto IV is on the verge of appear. The first next-gen GTA from Rockstar is in any case great news, if only because the first part is that simultaneously for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 appears. That is unique: the last few years, Sony will always prevail. Microsoft certainly has deep pockets to grope for the simultaneous release.

And what about the extra downloadable episodes? In August, the first see the light, and Rockstar is talking now about a spacious ten hours of additional gameplay. At the end of 2008 would be the 2nd episode to come out. It is a very smart asset of Microsoft, but I dare not even guess at the monstrous amount of people in Seattle have changed hands for these exclusive downloads. The question is whether gamers who don’t yet have a next-gen machine, by GTA a in-house, and fetch and or them because of the episodes for the Xbox 360 will choose. I find that hard to estimate. At its worst, it delivers good pr for the Xbox 360, which Microsoft after the end of april is still two times highs and moving to the GTA IV hype. At its best selling Microsoft significantly more consoles. Time will tell.

For Sony and Microsoft (and, above all, for Rockstar and Take 2), GTA IV is already a success. From each copy sold going royalties to the maker of the game console on which the game is running. And that royalties are pretty. Analysts expect that the game on day 1 everywhere is sold out and it is estimated the number of copies sold are somewhere between 3 and 4 million in the first week. Ultimately, it is expected in the whole of 2008, about 18 million units to sell. And there is the pc version, which has not yet been announced, but which is undoubtedly, not yet added.

The annoying thing is that if you’re a AKO access, you get the idea that the computer game tijdschriftenvak full of clones. Every gamemagazine has GTA IV on the cover or has him on the cover. Online is exactly the same. Games website will have their website completely rigged in GTA-style and the scores will all be very close to each other in the vicinity are, I guess.

The influence of rockstar’s sandbox game goes far. Take a look at the releaselijsten of the coming time. There is remarkably little in the months of april and may. Only Nintendo runs its own course: that launches Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit as if nothing is going on. There is also nothing to worry about – for Nintendo, because the target audiences for these games are totally different than that of GTA IV. But the rest of the market is completely quiet. No one wants to be in the area of the release of rockstar’s flagship

And then there’s Electronic Arts’ open bid on Take 2. There is EA all situated to Take 2 (and Rockstar) even before the release of GTA IV to buy, so EA all GTA IV sales to his companies. Take 2 is, as yet, his leg stiff, but the question is how long the shareholders will go along. EA’s price per share rises almost to the day and a smart businessman I had toegehapt. Personally, I hope fervently that Take 2 is not on the bid takes effect, because then it disappears again, a third-party publisher. And a publisher as EA, with as many licenses and games completed. n roof – that begins haunting a lot like a monopoly to appear.

It will be so exciting times. For Rockstar, Take 2, for the gamers, for the fans, for the retailers and for the journalists. The first GTA IV review is already leaked. It is the review of the Us Official Xbox 360 magazine. The score is, not surprisingly, a 10.