Quoted in a Reuters report this morning that "it no longer believed it could benefit from completing an integration of Take-Two (TTWO) before the holiday shopping season," management at Electronic Arts, or EA (ERTS), has decided to allow its $2 billion bid to buyout Take-Two Interactive to lapse.  Both stocks are down this morning in a lackluster trading session.

Ahead of the announcement, analysts have soured somewhat on EA earnings expectations.  For the September quarter, 4 analysts have ratcheted down estimates in the past month, while 5 have done so for fiscal years 2009 (ending March '09) and 2010.  This follows four straight quarters of positive earnings surprises for the company.

No revisions have been made either up or down for Take-Two in the last 30 days, but the dropped buyout had taken shares of TTWO below $24 for a period this morning.  However, included in the Reuters report was

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Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO) installment of the video game Grand Theft Auto goes on sale worldwide today with expectations that it will break sales records.

 

The video game industry estimates “GTA 4″ will sell about 6 million copies and make about $400 million in sales worldwide in its first week alone. If those numbers hold up, the game would break the record held by the current all-time sales champ, Halo 3.

Police groups have raised concerns, and in Chicago, ads for GTA 4 have been removed from buses and trains.

CEO Ben Feder says a number of analysts have underestimated Grand Theft Auto IV’s sales potential.

Feder was bullish about the game’s …