Pre-holiday release for GTA 5 now unlikely, admits Pachter

Believes the game will still be released before the end of March 2013.

Grand Theft Auto V is now unlikely to be released this holiday season, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has admitted.

Despite previously believing Rockstar Games' highly anticipated open-world action sequel was a good bet for an October 2012 release, Pachter now believes that the game's no show at E3 2012 means a 2012 release is unlikely.

However, given Take-Two's revenue guidance for the current fiscal year, Pachter remains confident that GTA 5 will be released before the end of March 2013.

"There was no announcement of Grand Theft Auto V at the show, making a pre-holiday release less likely," wrote Pachter in a note released to investors yesterday. "Company management confirmed that it would most likely notify retailers of a GTA release 3 – 4 months prior to launch, suggesting that a GTA release date announcement is virtually certain to occur by November."

So, whilst it doesn't look likely that we'll be playing GTA 5 this year, we may end 2012 at least knowing when the game will be coming to stores.