They’re the ”only ones that have any risk” attached to them. Bethesda may slip to launch ”when it’s ready”, but it’s a ”very low probability” at this stage.
”The only ones that have any risk are Skyrim and Saint’s Row,” said Michael Pachter. Delays at this stage, especially for Elder Scrolls fans would be crushing to say the least. Even Saints Row has got drool puddles forming worldwide.
”The former because Bethesda will launch when it’s ready, and it won’t hurt the game to move into February; the latter a very low probability, since it looks close to complete, and because THQ needs it in the holiday quarter, but given reviews on Homefront, they may choose to delay for more polish,” explained the senior analyst.
”I’d assign a 10 per cent risk to Saint’s Row slipping,” he concluded. ”The others are really not all that competitive. CoD and Assassin’s Creed always come out head-to-head, Halo is a re-issue, NFS and MGS don’t compete with any of the others.”
November is packed to the rafters with ‘core’ gaming experiences. Hopefully the publishers won’t pull what they did a few holidays back and issue a snowball of title delays into spring and summer. Uncharted 3, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Halo Combat Evolved: Anniversary and more are en route (so far).
