[TheGame]

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/421/421502p1.html

May 29, 2003 - In Take-Two Interactive's financial conference call to analysts early this week the company said that its exclusivity contract with Sony Computer Entertainment America has been amended and, additionally, executives strongly hinted that a version of Grand Theft Auto may come to Xbox.

During the Q&A section of the conference call, Take-Two's Jeffrey Lapin stated that an unannounced SKU would appear on Xbox in the fiscal year 2004 (which, for Rockstar, is November to January). Lapin didn't confirm it was Grand Theft Auto, but he implied, according to an inside source who listened in on the call, that it was a Grand Theft Auto title. If rumor proves true, then a previously published version of the game, i.e. Grand Theft Auto III or Grand Theft Auto Vice City, is in the works for Xbox.

According to the conference transcript, the question asked in the call was: "Is GTA for Xbox coming, and when it is coming?" Lapin's answer was: "We said that there will be an Xbox SKU from Rockstar in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2004 [Nov. to Jan.], but we're not going to comment on what it is at this point."

SCEA's contract with Rockstar originally stated that all Grand Theft Auto titles would be exclusive to PlayStation 2 (with the exception of the PC) from 2001 to year's end 2004. Apparently, SCEA and Rockstar have re-negotiated the contract to permit the game to appear on other consoles. Rockstar is currently working on the next Grand Theft Auto title, due for year's end in 2004, which will, as we understand it, complete the original exclusivity contract with SCEA. (Unless that too has been renegotiated.)

A second question was asked: "Will the Sony deal allow you to ship a non-PS2 GTA product even if it's not the most current?" The answer was: "We're not going to comment on terms of the at deal although by the next conference call we'll be able to give some more color."

Take-Two is most likely to announce the full, confirmed news in its next analyst call this August. And you know we'll have more on that when it comes.