"It's a disappointment that the game won't come out in the holiday period. It's one of the biggest games of all time," said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey.

"This is probably going to hurt the sell- through of the (Sony) Playstation3 and (Microsoft's) XBox 360."

Shareholders unhappy

Take-Two has had a turbulent couple of years, coming under fire for poor results, accounting problems and controversy over one of its games.

The New York firm has been accused of overstating profits and now faces a formal stock options probe.

It has also been criticised for the graphic sexual content of one of its Grand Theft Auto games, which was withdrawn from many shops.

Earlier this year, unhappy shareholders removed the New York firm's chief executive and most of its directors.

In June it said it would cut jobs as it sought to reduce costs by $25m (£12.6m) a year by 2008.