Pachter lowers Take-Two revenue estimates

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has advised investors that Take-Two's revenues will be lower than expected thanks to Duke Nukem Forever's negative reception.

We had previously expected Duke to be one of the year's top sellers due to a high degree of hype and a dedicated fan base, and expected solid profit contribution as the bulk of development had been previously expensed," Pachter wrote in a note to investors, as reported by Gamespot.

"However, the game's poor reviews (average Metacritic score of 49) likely had a negative impact on sales, causing us to lower our [first quarter] sell-in estimate to 1.5 million units from 3 million units."

Pachter downgraded his estimates of the 2K and Rockstar parent company's quarterly revenue from $375 million to $300 million based on Duke Nukem Forever's performance.

Take-Two itself has estimated revenues between $325 million and $375 million.

Pachter reiterated his faith in Take-Two, saying it has had "the fewest 'misses' in terms of game quality over the last two years", and predicated Grand Theft Auto V by holiday 2012.