Rockstar's Dan Houser has said that for the games industry to mature, it needs to move away from a sales model that places too much emphasis on the Christmas period.
Traditionally a huge majority of product is released during September to December, creating a bottleneck that can see quality titles swamped by a glut of games on the market.
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV was originally scheduled for October last year and would have seen it dropped into the busiest sales period, but a delay until a quiet period doesn't seem to have dampened enthusiasm for the game.
Huzaifa from eXputer: "2008 was home to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, GTA 4, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, and many other hits, which is outright remarkable."
Just about every year in the 7th generation was great and something we most likely won't experience again.
2009 for example had Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Killzone 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Demon's Souls to name a few.
As we have all been graced by the release of Grand Theft Auto 6's trailer, we're ranking the best and worst GTA trailers to date.
We be getting these posts All week now lads. Someone noticed a number plate ... Someone noticed a billboard... I can see it now
Just go on YouTube and watch one of the many videos dissecting the whole 1minite 30secs worth.
This site supposed to be for news.
These updates on N4G are going to ruin whats rest of this site. Unfortunate since I was one of the first members.. The site shows unsecure when i login as well.
Grand Theft Auto 4 is an important game for Rockstar, not least because it was the first title in the franchise to use the newly created RAGE engine.
I couldn't agree more. More game should be release in the Spring, and Summer Season. Most gamers are home during that time, because the don't have school, and are home most of the time. Game sales would be a lot better during that time period that most publisher think.
Overload the Late Fall and early Winter season is basically bad for developers and publishers. I would have gotten Ratchet and Clank, and Uncharted if they was release before their fall release date. But because of all the great games that came out during that time period, I miss an chance to play those game. );
100 percent dead on. And as much as we don't like the idea of in game ads, something as simple as product placement in game, if only during cinematics, or cut scenes, has the potential to both lower development costs, and reduce our cost at retail. The movie, and television industries do it every day on almost every show or movie we watch, and we don't throw a fit about it because we're used to it. Lowering development costs would increase revenue from every game, and that in turn could stimulate publishers into thinking more about releasing quality games throughout the year instead of trying to flood the market at xmas to try and nab their share of the gift giving money tree.
GTA 4 would sell 10 million copies life time if it was released in middle of a thermal nuclear war outbreak between all the largest nations of the world. It is 100% true that some big titles would even benefit from an early launch but small AA titles could get lost in the wash.
I expect things to change next year for the better with some nice spring and summer launches but dont expect the herd to change its mind completely. There is a reason for the Xmas bounty - people are buying games by the bushel and mediocre to decent titles will always sell better at that time.