After Internet sources misinterpreted his recent comments, Take-Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick had to confirm that there would be no second delay for Grand Theft Auto IV
GTA IV was delayed from its initial 16, October, 2007 release date to sometime early in 2008 during Take Two's second fiscal quarter. During BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainmetn Summit, Zelknick was asked to give a more specific release date for Grand Theft Auto IV.
Zelnick refused to pinpoint a specific release date but he tried to justify the delay, saying: "The hardware penetration is going to grow over Christmas, and this is gonna be a must-have title, it's probably OK you're not selling it during the Christmas season."
But his closure statement, "We'll give a firm release date when we know we can stick to it", caused many online sources to misinterpret it as "done when it's done" release date.
"I wasn't intending to be newsworthy", Zelnick explained later. "When asked about the release date, I confirmed the previous release date we'd given, which is our second fiscal quarter. That's to say sometime between the beginning of February and the end of April."
