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- Rockstar Games is heavily focused on its two most successful franchises, GTA and RDR, abandoning other beloved titles like Midnight Club, Bully, and L.A Noire.
- RDR 2 took 8 years to develop, and GTA 6 has exceeded that, requiring Rockstar’s immense budget and manpower.
- Rockstar will continue to focus on GTA Online and, possibly, RDR 3 in the future, leaving no room for other franchises.
Rockstar Games is in a league of its own. After all, the publisher is responsible for creating GTA, one of the most iconic franchises ever. GTA 5 and RDR 2 have two spots in the top 10 selling games of all time, and they are regarded as among the best games of all time.
While the publisher used to release multiple titles from different franchises until a couple of decades ago, it stopped doing so. Rockstar has abandoned some of its greatest franchises, such as Midnight Club, Bully, L.A Noire, and more.
This is to fix its focus entirely on the RDR and GTA games. Rockstar is on a scale never seen before; hence, it makes sense for longer development times. These franchises are so successful that I don’t see Rockstar working on other franchises apart from them.
Why It Matters: Fans continue to demand Rockstar revive some of its iconic franchises, but considering Rockstar’s track record, they should keep expectations in check. It won’t be working on any new series anytime soon.
GTA Is Everything To Rockstar
Fans have been waiting for GTA 6 for more than a decade. Next year, when GTA 6 hits the market, they’ll finally get to experience Vice City in a reimagined way.
One would think that after GTA 6 releases, Rockstar will have more time on their watch to focus on other franchises, but that’s incorrect. Rockstar’s main priority lies with the GTA franchises, and why wouldn’t it? After all, it is one of the highest-selling game franchises.
Even now, most of Rockstar’s manpower is focused on GTA 5 Online, a game released over a decade ago. GTA Online still brings in tons of revenue, making the game profitable even a decade after its release.
Despite RDR 2’s success and the game selling a whopping 65 million units, Rockstar’s priorities didn’t change at all. It abandoned RDR Online, an ambitious online mode, for the sake of focusing on GTA Online.
It even went as far as sabotaging its own game for profits. Reports suggest that multiple GTA 5 story DLCs were in development but scrapped in favor of GTA Online, which makes more profit.
Long Development Times And Major Man Power
As I’ve explained before, GTA and RDR are projects that are way above any other game in the industry. RDR 2 took almost eight years of development and cost almost half a billion dollars.
It takes a year more from the initial release for modern Rockstar games to hit the PC platform. GTA 6 will follow the same suit, considering it’s the biggest game in scale.
To realize GTA 6’s scale of development, the entire Rockstar India team is just working on the Vice Beach. The game reportedly has a development budget of $2 Billion. Rockstar will probably raise game prices to recoup those costs, too.
Moreover, after GTA 6 releases, Rockstar will be too busy working on GTA 6 Online to make up for all the development time and cost. Beyond GTA 6, we are bound to get Red Dead Redemption 3, backed by the fact that the take-two CEO has already called it inevitable.
With modern games costing too much and demanding immense manpower, I don’t see Rockstar working on its other IPs. Perhaps we can get remasters of old games, but expect them to be half-baked, like the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition. Rockstar hasn’t even rolled out a 60 FPS update for RDR 2.
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[News Reporter]
Shaheer is currently pursuing a Business degree while also working as a part-time Content Writer. With his deep passion for both writing and video games, he has seamlessly transitioned into a role as a Journalist. Over the past two years, Shaheer has contributed as a freelancer to various websites and landed positions on acclaimed platforms like Gamerant. Currently, his role at Tech4gamers is as a Features Writer, but he also covers News occasionally. Shaheer’s favorite gaming franchises are Assassin’s Creed and the God of War series.
Get In Touch: shaheer@tech4gamers.com
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