Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said Thursday it was temporarily suspending the release of the violent video game "Manhunt 2" because of an ongoing ratings controversy in the United States and a ban in Britain and Ireland.
The New York-based company said in a statement that it needed time to "reviews its options" but would "continue to stand behind this extraordinary game."
"We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing, both of which are essential to our business of making great entertainment," the company said.
"Manhunt 2," had previously been scheduled for a July 10 release in the United States on both Nintendo Co.'s Wii and the PlayStation 2 by Sony Corp.
But critics said they were concerned with the game's content, which depicts the escape of an amnesiac scientist and a psychotic killer from an asylum and their subsequent killing spree. In the Wii version, the console's motion-sensitive remote is waved around to control a virtual murder weapon.
The jury is still out on whether violent video games lead to violent behavior, but many big retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which accounts for 25 percent of U.S. video game sales, refuse to carry "Adults Only" titles.
The suspension was a setback for creator Rockstar Games, which has come under fire for its popular "Grand Theft Auto" series of urban crime games, and Take-Two, which earlier this year underwent a shareholder coup that ousted its chief executive and nearly all of its board.
Take-Two reported revenue last year of just over $1 billion, and "Manhunt 2" had been expected to post sales of about $40 million, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
"This is one of the tasks ahead of new management, to rein in that creative talent and tell those guys we are in the business of making money and you should make games that will sell, not games that are artistically beautiful but not available at Wal-Mart," Pachter told Reuters.