A “significant” Xbox game from Rockstar

[Bond]

A “significant” Xbox game from Rockstar will be coming next year.

Take-Two recently held its quarterly earnings conference call to release some details on the status of the company and some of the upcoming games from the company's various labels, including Rockstar, Gathering of Developers, and Gotham Games. Perhaps the most interesting news to come out of the conference call came when Take-Two CEO Jeff Lapin said that Rockstar will be releasing "a significant Xbox [game]" in Q1 2004. When asked if it will be a Grand Theft Auto game, Lapin simply stated that the company would not comment on that yet. However, later in the conference, Lapin said that the previous exclusivity deal between Rockstar and Sony would not allow Grand Theft Auto games to appear on any other platforms, but that deal has since been amended. The next Grand Theft Auto game was discussed during the conference, and it was pointed out that the game will be released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in the second half of 2004.

Lapin went on to say that there are around 90 projects in the planning stages or currently being developed at Take-Two Interactive, with 25 of those games being published under the Rockstar label, 40 under the Gathering of Developers label, and 25 under the Gotham Games label. He also mentioned that one or more of the games in development under the Gathering label will utilize the Halo engine.

As for Duke Nukem Forever, the game will not make it out this year. "We wrote it down last quarter substantially, so we've generally already pulled the plug," Lapin said. "We’re hopeful that the team in Dallas will finish the project."

Gamespot

[Perfect Stu]

Hmm...Max Payne 2? My money's on that...

"I know you, you know me...One thing I can tell you is you got to be free"

[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.

[One Winged Angel]

Earlier today, Take-Two Interactive announced their quarterly earnings (for financial details see the press release from this morning). During this conference, Take-Two Interactive CEO Jeff Lapin announced that Rockstar, one of the company's three in-house developers and the talented folks behind the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto franchise, is developing a "significant" title for the Xbox for release in Q1 of next year.

Although it is Rockstar, the chances of it being the next GTA are very, very slim. Lapin confirmed that the next GTA, planned for a late 2004 release, would definitely be exclusive to the PlayStation 2. However, here is the catch: it has been heavily suggested that the "significant" title will essentially be a GTA game in almost every respect. The only difference is that it won't have "GTA" in its name. This has by no means been confirmed, so please do take it with a grain of salt.

There are a few other interesting tidbits as well. Lapin mentioned that the company has approximately 90 projects in the works at Take-Two. Rockstar and Gotham Games have about 25 each and the remaining 40 will be produced under the Gathering of Developers label. Interestingly enough, Lapin revealed that one (or more) of GOD's games will utilize the Halo engine.

The last tidbit is a little disappointing for fans of Duke Nukem. Lapin made it clear that Duke Nukem Forever would not be finished by the end of the year. "We wrote it down last quarter substantially, so we've generally already pulled the plug," Lapin commented. "We're hopeful that the team in Dallas will finish the project."

http://www.gamerfeed.com/index.php?story=3400

So maybe it's something else similar to Grand Theft Autoro soemthing, but it won't be apart of that franchise likely.

[Perfect Stu]

GTA: San Andreas will be PS2 exclusive. I'm not sure if that means that another GTA title could or couldn't appear on XBox...

I guess we'll have to wait and see

[GameKinG]

I dunno if they will release another GTA this gen other than the next one, which is Ps2 exclusive. They always blow these things out of proportion, its probably just GTA3, and VC. Or something else, maybe. I doubt they could make another game as significant as GTA.