There’s also the Halo 3 factor that Take-Two could take into consideration. “We believe that a two-week delay would provide a reasonable gap between the launch of Halo 3 and the launch of GTA IV, and would actually help sales of both games,” wrote Pachter.

Pachter even said that there would be advantages to launching the $90 collector’s edition GTA IV SKU on the originally planned date. “…A delay of the ‘normal’ SKU for GTA IV by two or three weeks could allow Take-Two to maximize revenues from the $89.99 Collector’s Edition of the game by shipping that SKU on October 17, and to increase overall profitability,” he said.