Take Two Takes Too Long

Investors in Take-Two Interactive might have thought that this spring's board purge was enough to fix the mess of problems plaguing the company. Take-Two, but the hits just keep on coming.

On Thursday the videogame maker announced that the release of its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV would be delayed from October until March or April of next year, citing "development delays."

Not the best first impression that the new cast of characters at Take-Two's helm, which includes chairman Strauss Zelnick and C.E.O. Ben Feder, could have made on their shareholders.

Stock in Take-Two was off almost 19 percent on Friday after the company spelled out just how dismal annual results would be without its cash-cow product on the shelves: Revenue will be 20 percent lower than previously forecast, with a loss of $1.25 and $1.35 per share for the year.

How contagious are Take-Two's financial ills? Sony and Microsoft, the makers of Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, both count on releases of top-selling games like G.T.A. IV to drive hardware sales.

But Microsoft's Halo 3 title, available only for Microsoft's XBox 360, is one of the games likely to pick up business now that G.T.A. IV no longer providing competition.

That leaves only Sony out in the cold for the second half of the year. And the $2 billion company is unlikely to feel serious pain from a downturn in the sales of any single product like Playstation 3.

Market watchers were quick to forecast gains for the stocks of rival videogame makers, as industry analysts see a whopping $200 million up in the air now that G.T.A. IV won't be on the market this fall.

Those in a position to profit are Microsoft with Halo 3, Activision with both Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero 3, Electronic Arts with Rock Band, and Ubisoft with Assassin's Creed.

But those upswings didn't materialize, as stock in the Take-Two peers hovered roughly unchanged throughout trading on Friday.

It's possible that investors believe that consumers, who have already waited a long three a half years to see the latest installment of G.T.A., will save their pennies for the G.T.A. IV release in the spring rather than buy a substitute in the fall.

Impatient gamers: Just cross your fingers that we don't have another Airbus on our hands.

by Liz Gunnison