Pachter: Mafia II Ailing, RDR Can Still Help Take-Two
Mafia IIDelays aren't usually a good thing, especially when one of your bigger titles may not perform as well as expected.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter spoke to Gamasutra concerning Take-Two's financial situation, and he guesses that Mafia II won't help the company's bottom line. Thankfully, Red Dead Redemption continues to sell like mad, which should help to balance things out a little. Said Pachter:
"Mafia II’s average Metacritic score of 74 is well below expectations, and consumer interest appears to be waning, as the game’s position has dropped in many best-seller lists in its first week. With six years in development, we believe the game is unlikely to achieve profitability."
Take-Two is well known for their teams that utilize long development cycles, and while that often pays off, it may not with Mafia II. It did for RDR but analysts usually suggest that Take-Two could benefit from shorter design cycles, and not quite so many delays. Pachter notes both L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3, both of which have been hit with delays in 2010.
"It is important to note that both games have been in development for longer than five years, making their break-even hurdles significantly higher than a typical game.
With longer development cycles, Take-Two has a profitability threshold higher than its peers," says the analyst. "We believe that the company must focus on streamlining its development process and providing better visibility on future game releases."
Well, Take-Two should be just fine, now that they have a solid new money-making series to go along with Grand Theft Auto. Altering between RDR and GTA year in and year out wouldn't be a bad plan, provided the level of quality didn't drop.
Related Game(s): Mafia II
Tags: mafia ii, 2k games, take-two interactive, mafia ii sales
8/30/2010 9:21:54 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (30 posts)
Steve_Fox
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 10:16:00 PM
Reply
2 up, 1 down
BikerSaint
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 10:44:12 PM
Yes, you are absolutely correct!
The Ps3's version of Red Dead Redemption is so true to life, that before R* could even get the game out, all their in-game cattle & wild horses ate every single blade of grass right on down to their very roots!!!!
BTW, the shrubs & low hanging branches are next to go too once Buffalo Bill's petting zoo rustles into town the 2nd week of next month.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 8/30/2010 10:47:52 PM
7 up, 1 down
StangMan80
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 10:32:47 PM
Reply
I was planning on getting Mafia II but I decided to pass, I guess I'll just get L.A. noire
4 up, 2 down
Sir Shak
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 10:59:24 PM
Reply
5 up, 1 down
SvenMD
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 11:14:02 PM
3 up, 1 down
LegendaryWolfeh
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 11:31:15 PM
1 up, 4 down
jaybiv
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 12:23:29 AM
1 up, 1 down
Danny007
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 11:05:59 PM
Reply
2 up, 2 down
spiderboi
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 10:40:26 AM
2 up, 1 down
Qubex
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 12:42:15 AM
Reply
I went back to play the demo at large; and whilst I did have some fun playing it I am very disappointed in what they have left out visually.
360 version looks much nicer with the proper grass and the AA implementation. I view "technical" laziness as a travesty, I reward technical brilliance but not shoddiness...
The port is a shoddy port and the camera movement is poor. The screen tearing is unacceptable. Therefore they will not be getting any of my money... and that goes for any other "shoddily" made game where I expect, as the customer, only the best... as I expect from all companies and their products that I pay for and serve me.
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 8/31/2010 12:42:37 AM
5 up, 1 down
Kai200X
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 12:58:19 AM
Reply
4 up, 0 down
Lawless SXE
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 1:54:15 AM
Reply
I'm not really surprised that this game hasn't taken off as many expected it to, after all it's a linear game in an open world and that doesn't really make for a good design IMO. As for RDR helping, well duh, the amount of hype, and sales, are enough to propel it skywards, and I am now expecting a sequel to be announced within the next two years.
Here's the thing, T2 doesn't need a new 'Red Dead' or GTA every two years. People seem to forget that they also have Bioshock, and that should be a huge seller. Besides, with Max Payne 3, L.A. Noire (a must buy for me) and maybe Agent releasing next year from R* alone, I think they'll be right for some time to come.
Peace.
2 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 2:59:44 AM
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honestly NEVER in my 20+ years of gaming, NEVER have i played a game as unstable as this!
im playing it on my 4K PC with dual 470GTXs which should be more than enough recommended specs are 1 470 and 1 9800GTX+ for APEX physX.
ive had so many bugs ranging from cars disappearing to the environments disappearing to bodies floating to sound dropping out to game freezing to getting a windows message saying a error has occurred and the program had to exit.
3 times that happened to me last night,3! within a hour!
never in my 20 years has that happened to me, but mafia 2 managed to do it 3 times in not even a hour!
amazingly pathetic!
do 2K put any polish what so ever into their games?
bioshock, need i say more?
it really pisses me off to see such a good game spoiled by such a stupid simple thing like this.
if 2K dont fix this and im still having these problems by next week im never buying a 2K game ever again!
sent them a email about this telling them that, also posted it on the forums.
will be interesting to see how they respond.
im just so pissed!
i have been waiting for this game for over 5 freaking years! i was expecting it to be the end all to mob based games.
i was expecting this to be 2010s san andreas, i was expecting this to be the best multiplatform game ever released!
o, boy was i wrong.
:(
1 up, 4 down
Lawless SXE
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 4:17:06 AM
Peace.
5 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 8:49:05 AM
there are pleanty of publishers out there that dont treat their fans like cashbanks and release constant fantastic games!
EA, bethesda, konami, teamco, namco, nintendo, THQ, capcom, ubisoft........... i think ill manage!
0 up, 4 down
spiderboi
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 10:42:00 AM
3 up, 0 down
Deathb4Dishonor
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 6:44:14 AM
Reply
3 up, 0 down
JackC8
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 7:05:22 AM
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Even if I was interested in it, I don't buy second-rate ports. We're hitting the pinnacle of this console generation, and I have to put off buying games I'm really interested in to make room for all the games I'm really, REALLY interested in. This "PS3 to hard fro us" crap can happily be ignored.
Really looking forward to a Red Dead Redemption sequel. Yippee! :)
3 up, 0 down
TheOldOne
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 7:17:20 AM
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My opinion: RDR > Saints Row 2 > GTA 4 > Mafia 2
5 up, 1 down
bOnEs
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 8:29:47 AM
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but, i am glad RDR has done so well... it's easily the best gmaing experience of 2010 and thanks to the great reception, the wild west is here to stay... thank you R*!!
now i wish R* or bethesda would give the pirate genre something to keep it afloat... the last great genre that goes without a staple title, unless you still consider the 12+ year old sid meier's pirates... and i still do... we need something 21st century that represents the 17th century well...
2 up, 0 down
NeoHumpty
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 8:43:57 AM
0 up, 0 down
BikerSaint
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 2:20:56 PM
Reply
I also gave her our PSXE site link & she told me she'd pass along both my thoughts, & all the thoughts of our PSXE followers to her boss.
So who knows, maybe somebody from K2 will stop in & post something.
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 3:13:47 PM
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3 up, 0 down
BikerSaint
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 5:20:38 PM
Those Ninja & Spidey senses truly go a long long way, don't they?
0 up, 0 down
FM23
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 3:54:44 PM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
Alienange
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 5:38:26 PM
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I'll be damned if it's not the very reason I bought The Man With No Name Blu Ray trilogy off of Amazon.
1 up, 0 down
RebelJD
Reply
Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 9:53:27 PM