It’s full speed ahead on GTA VI but ‘stop what you’re doing’ on everything else
Back in November 2021, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition – consisting of GTA III, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas – and it did not go down well.
Due to a host of technical issues which made it unplayable for some in just the first three days of release and a generally disliked art direction, it ended up becoming one of the worst-reviewed games of the year – ranging from 46% on Metacritic for Nintendo Switch to 56% for Xbox Series X|S – and a bit of a black eye for the usually peerless reactions that a Rockstar release generates.
In the run-up to that game’s unveiling, there had been talk that Rockstar would also be looking to remaster more of their own back catalogue, but Kotaku has reported that is no longer the case for two of their biggest projects.
GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption remasters being shelved
2008’s Grand Theft Auto IV and 2010’s Red Dead Redemption were both seemingly lined-up to be getting a shiny new next-gen friendly update, but Rockstar has now revealed they’re sidelining both of these remasters in light of the reaction to GTA: The Trilogy remasters.
However, this isn’t the only reason why Rockstar is no longer focusing on remaking old favourites as the Kotaku report also claims that the developers are now refocusing all of their efforts on the Grand Theft Auto VI, which was finally announced back in February, some nine years on from the release of the last game in the series.
“With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered – and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway,” said a spokesperson. “We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready, so please stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.”
Plans after whenever GTA VI actually drops
That was almost six months ago and, as per usual, Rockstar has remained pretty top secret about its new release. That being said, it is also thought that once GTA 6 ships and enough time has passed since the remastered trilogy, the company may return to the idea of remasters of GTA IV and the first Red Dead game. Watch this space…
And to be fair, even if not, we’ve already had GTA V on three different generations and the car-crash that was the Definitive Edition – I think we’re good for remasters for a while.
In the meantime, why not test your knowledge of the GTA series to date with our Grand Theft Auto quiz.
Related links
- The free subscription games coming to PlayStation and Xbox in July
- The Ultimate PlayStation Quiz
- Atari releasing 50th anniversary collection with over 90 classic games
