Take this as you will- industry analyst Michael Pachter went on record saying he believes the game Grand Theft Auto IV was delayed due to problems with programming the game for the PlayStation 3. because of this, both the PS3 and XBox 360 versions of the game have been delayed until Q2 2008. The XBox 360 version gets delayed due to contractual obligations preventing it being released early on other platforms.

"We think it is likely that the Rockstar team had difficulty in building an exceptionally complicated game for the PS3, and failed to recognise how far away from completion the game truly was until recently," said Pachter.

"We think it is also likely that Take-Two had a contractual commitment to Sony that it would not favour competitor Microsoft by launching the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV prior to launching the PS3 version, and believe that any delay of the PS3 version necessitated a delay of the Xbox 360 version," he added.

It is his feeling this could shake investor confidence in Take-Two Interactive even after steps were put in place to improve their system for green-lighting games for production.

"Take-Two management stumbled badly for the first time during their tenure," says Pachter.

"While the delay of GTA IV was clearly not the fault of new management, we believe that it should have been better understood several months ago, and should have been communicated to investors much earlier than today.

"The company has begun an initiative to improve the green light process for new projects, but given the delays of Manhunt and GTA, its process for monitoring projects under development appears to be a failure," he said.