June 24th, 2007

Manhunt 2 rework might cost 1mil

Published at 4:00 PM PST

That's the price an analyst believes it'll cost to bring down the AO rating.

These are strange times for Rockstar games, who last week saw Manhunt 2 slammed and banned by the BBFC in the UK, and given an AO Adult Only rating in America. They say no publicity is bad publicity, but even we are unsure on this one!

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Patcher has recently made a statement, predicting that it will cost Rockstar approximately $1 million dolllars to 'rework' the game, in an attempt to bring down its AO classification rating.

"They will probably spend $1 million or so to rework the game," he said. "They will not have revenue from the game this quarter (ending July), so they will likely miss their guidance, but will make up most of it in a future quarter when the game is released."

He added, "The overall financial impact is not that serious, provided sales don't suffer. It is hard to know whether the publicity helps or hurts, but my guess is that it hurts."

So, maybe there is hope for them after all. But, certainly not an easy obstacle to overcome.