Many stories have come out today, because of the announced delay of BioShock Infinite, most notably the report by who claimed that the postponed release might make way for Grand Theft Auto V. Out of the entire ordeal however, the question arises, if Rockstar’s blockbuster title has been granted a new release slot or has it taken it?

Pachter writes, “We believe that October is the preferred release month for GTA V’s developer, Rockstar Games, as the studio has scheduled every prior GTA releases during that month (with GTA IV delayed to April 2008, due to bugs in the PS3 version). We speculate that once Rockstar Games notified Take-Two that GTA V would be ready by October, Take-Two gave Irrational Games the option to spend more time fine-tuning BioShock Infinite. Although we were confident that both games would sell millions of units when it appeared that they would be released in close proximity, we think that the delay will alleviate any wallet-share concerns and ensure that both games receive the undivided attention of Take-Two’s management and marketing teams, and will ensure that retail support is optimized.”

Considering the holiday season is the major sales slot, it couldn’t have been too far from Take Two’s mind to think about which game would make the most money and the last thing they would want is two of their own games competing against each other.

Undoubtedly, Grand Theft Auto V would have been the obvious choice. Rockstar’s franchise has proven itself to be appealing to the masses and most definitely is the safer bet in comparison to BioShock. This is not something I only say because I don’t know that many 12 year olds anxious to be immersed in a crooked dystopian world for Christmas, but the financial past speaks all the more for such a decision. Even though the first trip to Rapture was better received by critics, the second instalment in the BioShock franchise was able to tally up nearly just as many sales as its predecessor, with a total of 3.38 million units sold. GTA IV crushes the figures of both of these titles combined, racking up 19.3 million units sold. Not to mention that The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned outsold BioShock’s DLC as well.

Aside from the marketability of Grand Theft Auto, there is one more factor to take into the equation, the competition. Letting GTA hit the streets just around the same time as Assassin’s Creed, Medal of Honor, Resident Evil 6, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty makes Take Two a bigger contender.

Of course, this is just me speculating, but since Ken Levine claimed in his official statement that BioShock Infinite is being pushed back so it can become “even more extraordinary” we probably won’t be hearing otherwise.