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Gaidal Cain
Head Merchant
Joined: 29 Oct 2005
Posts: 54
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| bad news - oblivion out in February or later. |
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quote:
Take-Two delays both the next-gen and PC versions of its anticipated role-playing game to early 2006.
Although the Xbox 360 goes on sale in just over three weeks, Microsoft still hasn't announced the final day-of launch game lineup for the console. However, gamers can now scratch one of the next-platform's most anticipated titles off their holiday shopping lists.
In a conference call with analysts today, Take-Two Interactive announced that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is being delayed until the second quarter of its next fiscal year, which runs from February to April 2006. While this is still technically within Microsoft's 14-week "launch window" for the Xbox 360, it means that the game will not be on sale when the console arrives in stores on November 22.
Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's President and CEO, said that quality assurance was the reason for the delay. "We are moving the launch of Elder Scrolls IV to our 2nd quarter, based on the Bethesda Softworks requiring additional development time to ensure the title meets gamers' high expectations for this popular franchise," he said. The date change will also affect the PC version of the game, which was slated to ship simultaneously.
The delay is surprising, as an October 6 Reuters report apparently confirmed Oblivion for the Xbox 360 launch. As it was the sole role-playing game for the console slated for release in 2005, it was also featured in many 360 bundles offered by online retailers.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is developed by Bethesda Softworks and is published under Take-Two's 2K Games subbrand. Its delay reduced the number of Take-Two Xbox 360 launch titles to five games: NBA 2K6 , NHL 2K6, Amped 3, Top Spin 2, and College Hoops 2K6.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136973.html
mod edit: fixed link |
Tue Nov 01, 2005 5:18 pm |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
Well really, how terribly inconvenient. 
Actually, I don't mind about the delay at all, a few extra months to get it right is fine by me. I just feel bad for Microsoft - they're making a real pig's ear of this 360 launch. |
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Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:51 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
I'm not terribly excited about the game anyway, but I'm incredibly pleased to see a designer/publisher decide to take the PR hit and wait until the product is done right. How many games have been shipped incomplete? How many companies are perfectly happy to ship a clunker and then come back with a patch or two after the fact that gets the product to a point where it should have been from the beginning?
Major kudos to Take Two.
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=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Tue Nov 01, 2005 11:00 pm |
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cptmaxon
High Emperor
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Posts: 557
Location: Israel |
yeah the store I preordered it from , pushed it all the way back to april 2006 
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"We're still flying"
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:26 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Geez, you could have at least quoted our own news story, which was one of the first out, instead of the re-hash from GameSpot. 
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:19 am |
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany |
Exactly. Traitor!
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:08 am |
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Dez
King of the Realms
Joined: 08 Jan 2003
Posts: 455
Location: Fortress of Tell Halaf |
Shit happens. Oh well i quess its better that they finish the game properly.
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The focused mind can pierce through stone |
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:08 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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This delay has to have Turbine sweating a little. Normally a MMO doesn't really have to worry about a single player game... but Elder Scrolls taps a really large part of the fanbase.
Turbine has already bet the farm on DDO and Middle Earth online ... seeing first month box sales trampled by a 400 lb gorilla like an Elder Scrolls could kill them.
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 4:13 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
No biggie. Not like there arent a ton of other great games coming out this holiday season. (Dragon Quest 8 being the RPG).
This should give my wallet a little more breathing room before beatings...
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IMHO my opinion is humble |
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 4:44 pm |
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Gaidal Cain
Head Merchant
Joined: 29 Oct 2005
Posts: 54
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quote:
Originally posted by dteowner
I'm not terribly excited about the game anyway, but I'm incredibly pleased to see a designer/publisher decide to take the PR hit and wait until the product is done right. How many games have been shipped incomplete? How many companies are perfectly happy to ship a clunker and then come back with a patch or two after the fact that gets the product to a point where it should have been from the beginning?
Major kudos to Take Two.
For some reason I doubt extra development time is the decisive factor in this decision
only two weeks ago, Pete Hines discarded an ongoing rumor of an oblivion delay saying the release date was still holidays 2005.
Then one has to ask the question; how does one go from holidays 2005 to april 2006... in two weeks? This is not some last minute beta testing or bug removing we're talking about, this is major time. The best argument I've heard so far was that take2 is on the stock market and it actually needed the revenue of the Oblivion release in their second financial quarter, to please their stockholders. It still presents the issue of forgoing loads of cash by not making christmas season, but it's more viable than anything else I've heard. Through all this, Bethesda has remained stoically silent.
I'm not quite sure what's going on. All I can say is that it's very unlikely that they delayed it for four months to implement some necessary bug fixes. |
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 4:46 pm |
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany |
Who says it´s April? T2´s 2nd fiscal quarter starts on Febr. 1st. A release in mid to late Febr. is the first possible date if you miss Christmas. January is hardly possible because everybody is playing their Christmas gifts.
It´s probable Bethesda cut a deal with MS to make Oblivion a launch title. MS would compensate Bethesda for the obviously low installed base at launch by sponsoring a part of the budget. What if Oblivion didn´t get the approval by MS? They need a bit more time, miss the lauch date and the deal is gone. Then it may be a good idea to think about plan b. This would explain why Bethesda always said it´s a launch title. They put all their money on a quick approval. All speculation, of course.
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:00 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
quote:
Originally posted by Gaidal Cain
The best argument I've heard so far was that take2 is on the stock market and it actually needed the revenue of the Oblivion release in their second financial quarter, to please their stockholders.
It's possible. Activision did this with DOOM3(Xbox) earlier this year. They delayed the game by 2 months just to boost their numbers for the new "fiscal year or quarter". The game was code-complete and sat unreleased for over two months.
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Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:07 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
quote:
Originally posted by Gaidal Cain
The best argument I've heard so far was that take2 is on the stock market and it actually needed the revenue of the Oblivion release in their second financial quarter, to please their stockholders. It still presents the issue of forgoing loads of cash by not making christmas season, but it's more viable than anything else I've heard. Through all this, Bethesda has remained stoically silent.
I don't really see why this is the most compelling argument...in fact, it really only seems designed to shift the "blame" away from Bethesda.
The timing of the announcement seems clear - T2 wanted as little impact to the stock price as possible but simply had to give guidance for the upcoming financial year. The conference call was clear - Bethesda requested more time. Noone has put forward an argument why T2 would prefer Q2 over other quarters and why that consideration would be enough to force Bethesda (and Microsoft's interests).
If I were to speculate, I would say that Bethesda desperately wanted to ship for Holidays '05 and simply held on too long hoping it could happen. I suspect Gorath is right - they have/had a financial consideration from Microsoft to be a launch title but simply can't make it.
While there's no hard evidence of this other than the explicit statement from the T2 conference call, consider the output from Bethesda. They have always said they would release information in their own time but surely most fans expected more marketing ramp up by now. Where are the extra screens? Why is there virtually no video -- other than a 6-month old E3 demo? I'm pretty sure most devs would want newer video just a few weeks from the theoretical release to show the improved animations and shadows. Why no screens of the interface, journal and so on? Why didn't the X05 demo have shadows if it's all done but bugs?
Because it's not?
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Thu Nov 03, 2005 2:01 am |
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Drax
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 21 Oct 2004
Posts: 45
Location: Khorinis |
What Dhruin stated made alot of logical sense, and I think that its facts are correct!!!
although...
I read somewhere that bethesda made the delay for quality assurance!!! However, that cant be true, because the game was set to come out in a few weeks, and therefore allready would have undergone heavy testing.
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Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:08 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I think this is a bit of a red-herring. The T2 conference says Bethesda asked for more time "to meet the high expectation from gamers". When GameSpot posted their newsbit based on the same information, they interpreted "high expectations" as a delay for QA, and hence confused people.
In the end, I don't think the difference is meaningful. Whether Bethesda is behind schedule, is having trouble with a specific issue (framerates, AI , whatever) or they need more QA time or it failed QA, then nett result is really the same: Bethesda isn't ready and needs more time.
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Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:59 am |
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