Michael Pachter, who I’ve compared to ESPN’s Mel Kiper on more than one occasion, has come out and said in a research note that he expects Grand Theft Auto IV to sell in excess of nine million units during 2008 alone.

However, according to Pachter, GTA IV is the high point of what will ultimately be a disappointing year for Take-Two Interactive:

Take-Two is pretty much the same company it was over the past three years, but has the good fortune to have GTA IV coming out next month… The game will mask recurring problems from the rest fo the company’s operations, and calls into question the value of the rest of Take-Two’s business.

Pachter followed that up with a bunch of numbers which basically boiled down to GTA IV being responsible for $450 million of Take-Two’s $1.07 billion worth of publishing revenue, and that GTA IV will be responsible for 103% of Take-Two’s operating profit. Let me summarize for you: GTA IV will make assloads of cash.

Pachter also followed this up by criticizing Take-Two’s handling of its more popular franchises, saying that the company has failed to “sequelize” some of its more successful franchises “on an annual basis”, specifically pointing out titles like Red Dead Revolver, Mafia, and my golden child, Max Payne. Pachter then pointed to Activision’s ability to rehash the same game every year to maximize profit.

While I understand that Pachter is a businessman and not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination, he still had a tendency to really just get under my damn skin with these kinds of comments, specifically the Activision comparison. Yes, Activision is able to pump out a new Tony Hawk game every year. The only problem with this is that Tony Hawk hasn’t been fun since 2003 — when it last brought something new and original to the genre.

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