Take-Two hits back at Mafia â??unprofitableâ?? claim

The Mafia II project is still projected to turn a profit, Take-Two boss Ben Feder told investors last night.

The game was this week the subject of a dressing-down by Michael Pachter, the Wedbush Morgan games analyst who routinely makes bold predictions that sometimes fail to materialise.

Mafia II had, according to Pachter, been in development at studio 2K Czech for six years, and it was theorised that high development costs and lukewarm critic reviews meant the game was unlikely to turn a profit.

But Feder, the Take-Two CEO, told investors that “based upon the initial launch, we expect this to be another profitable title for Take-Two.”

He said the publisher was very proud of the game and its 2K Czech creators.

Full unit sales of the game were not disclosed, nor was the game’s production spend – though both are not ordinarily announced at quarterly investor meetings. The extent in which Mafia 2 would be profitable was not projected by the company.

Mafia II shot straight to number one position in its first week in the UK charts. Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein said the game was “off to a great start”.