Rockstar to abandon 'Grand Theft Auto'?

Published Feb 27 2008, 10:36 GMT  |  By David Gibbon

With Electronic Arts aiming to acquire Take-Two, games analyst Michael Patcher believes the publisher may create future Grand Theft Auto titles internally and without current developer Rockstar.

"We think that ownership of the intellectual property and game engines would allow EA to make the game itself and generate around $150 million every other year without contribution from Rockstar North," said Patcher.

However, the Wedbush Morgan analyst added that with Rockstar on board EA could make much more revenue from future sequels, stating: "With the current creative team in place, it is more likely that the game will generate closer to $600 million every other year."

Rockstar's contract with Take-Two comes to an end in February 2009 and Patcher believes that, should the EA acquisition fall through, a bidding war would ensue, with publishers such as EA keen to sign up Rockstar in a bid to create a rival to the Grand Theft Auto franchise in a similar move to former Championship Manager developers Sports Interactive and their new Football Manager series.

> Review: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories