Sony's Steinberg: We'll be marketing GTAIV as well.

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Geoff Keighly recently interviewed Sony's Scott Steinberg on his show Gametrailers TV at Gametrailers.com. At around the 10:20 mark in the show, Scott and Geoff start discussing GTAIV, during which Scott says:

No, I don't think [we're really concerned]. The PlayStation fanbase has grown up with Grand Theft Auto as a part of the PS2. I think that's a part of the expectation that a great game under the GTA brand will be available day and date as it is; the exact same game. The content they're talking about is maybe shipping in the Fall, we're not really sure. Quite frankly we'll get behind GTAIV with a lot of marketing as well, and soon after that is MGS4.

Of course, just recently Microsoft's Shane Kim said that they will "own" the launch of GTAIV:

"We already own it, I believe, from a content standpoint, because we have the exclusive episodes," he said. "And so Xbox 360 is still going to have the ultimate experience for GTA IV. But we have to make sure the customers know that."

For a long time many believed that Microsoft was going to exclusively market GTAIV in NA, much like they had with Madden last Fall. However, now it seems that this is not the case, and it brings me to the point of the thread:

 

Who do you think will own the launch of GTAIV, from a hardware perspective?

 

Personally, I think that the ps3 will sell more overall, like it's been doing since December. The GT5P bundle combined with GTAIV in Europe should really boost sales, and in NA, the release of GT5P just two weeks before GTAIV should also give the ps3 an edge, albeit a very small edge.

However, a price cut for the 360 in NA could flip things around. If the price is dropped by $50 or so across all SKUs, then the 360 will take the launch quite comfortably in the US, though the release of GT5P will keep the ps3 from falling too far behind. The ps3 should still take the European market by a large amount, and should still come out ahead overall.