Continuing from the news thread...@Onionpowder: The same GTAV that exists as a concept from a trailer, as all that can be seen of it.
Where would it be smart, then, for Deep Silver to set SR4 to launch?
If they pull the cover away after Rockstar has a substantial media grip, the likelihood is that they would get beaten, not necessarily by quality of game (there's no idea where the two properties are going to land, in relation to one another, on that front) but brand-name clout.
If, however, they get the game into the public "space" (through free-rein permitted to recording at that event, along with free wifi offered at the venue; and take the opportunity of catching the eye of media that are present), and they get a controller into the hands of attendees who get the opportunity to go hands-on - at the very least they would have not be leaving things to GTA, and they can let their game speak for itself to a live audience, for the first impression.
@Onionpowder More specifically to your point - what happened when like titles met from different publishers in the past? Each was affected, but segments of the audience formed up behind their game of preference. Why not launch directly at that point of time? Odds are high that SR4 would be more likely to gain from chipping at GTA, than GTA would pull disenfranchised former players of that series back, away from a rejuvenated (after 3), Saint's Row.