Advertisement

Take-Two releases Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony trailer, settles ‘Hot Coffee’ lawsuit

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The highly anticipated trailer for the latest game in the family of Grand Theft Auto titles, and specifically in the fourth generation of the franchise, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, was released this morning. To watch it, click on the video above.

It’ll likely be a mature-rated title when it comes out on Xbox 360 as a downloadable add-on game for Grand Theft Auto IV on Oct. 29. (It will also be bundled with a disc-based collection called Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.)

The trailer, however, is pretty tame, unlike the ‘Hot Coffee’ sex scenes contained in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that landed its publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software, in legal hot water four years ago. The New York game company today said it had settled a class-action lawsuit related to the incident for $20 million.

Advertisement

‘Hot Coffee is officially over,’ said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.

The latest installment of the gritty GTA franchise involves Anthony ‘Gay Tony’ Prince. Maybe more so than other GTA titles, this game tries to focus more on incorporating music into the gameplay, especially since Gay Tony is a nightclub owner.

Sales of the Ballad of Gay Tony are not expected to hit the levels reached by Grand Theft Auto IV, released last year as a disc-based game. Take-Two this afternoon said its sales for the quarter ended July 31 plunged 68% to $138.6 million. Its third-quarter net loss of $55.5 million contrasted with a profit of $51.8 million last year. The slump is mostly attributable to the lack of a GTA release in the quarter, analysts said.

-- Jevon Phillips and Alex Pham

Advertisement