Rumour has it that Rockstar Games is about the hang up its incredibly successful Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Redemption 2 online video games to focus on new adventures.
Although Rockstar has made no official announcements, a series of cryptic messages has started to emerge from the lauded video games developer.
A thank you note posted last week which individually mentioned the thousands of developers that have contributed to GTA V and GTA Online read: “Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online represent the combined efforts of our global team over many years.
“We want to acknowledge and thank everyone who has contributed to these games, from their original launch in 2013 all the way through to present day.”
And now a similar message has surfaced in reference to the studio’s other big-ticket IP Red Dead Redemption: “Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped create Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online,” the note reads, similar to that which appeared in GTA just days prior.
A winding down of support for these beloved titles make sense; Rockstar has begun working on the hotly anticipated sixth entry to the GTA franchise.
Rockstar turns to next-gen of GTA
Aside from being one of the most popular online multiplayer games of all time, having sold 170 million units to date, GTA Online was well ahead of its time upon its 2013 release.
Due to the social aspects and dynamically evolving nature of the game, plus a sophisticated in-game economy, GTA Online is now considered an early example of the metaverse.
And with the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in the not-too-distant future, one wonders if Rockstar intends to lean even further into the zeitgeist.
What has been confirmed is that Rockstar’s next GTA entry follows in the company’s well-worn footsteps for courting controversy, although this time for wholly different reasons.
Rather than puritanical tabloids and legislators fuming over GTA’s penchant for extreme violence and sexual content, the franchise has pushed buttons for daring to include a playable female character for the first time.
Lavern Spicer, a Republican party member who failed in her bid for the latest primaries, accused GTA of going “woke”, a sentiment broadly shared in the seedier corners of Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Reddit.
GTA 6 is going to go woke.They’ll also go broke.
— Lavern Spicer ???????? (@lavern_spicer) July 27, 2022
But aside from a disgruntled minority, GTA 6 will undoubtedly be met with unprecedented hype and excitement for franchise diehards who will have waited over a decade for the next instalment.
GTA’s Scottish roots
Though Rockstar and parent company Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) Interactive Software are based in New York, GTA wouldn’t exist without Scottish development Studio DMA Design.
DMA Design developed and released the first entry into the GTA franchise, simply called Grand Theft Auto, in 1997 before being bought out by Take-Two Interactive at the turn of the century.
DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and has continued to create every main GTA game since then.
GTA has come a long way from its top-down roots – Source: The Guardian
Rockstar North is also responsible for the extremely controversial Manhunt game.
Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive Software is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the TTWO ticker and is trading at US$120.6 per share with a market capitalisation of US$20.2bn.
In January 2022, Take-Two acquired mobile gaming giant Zynga, creator of popular games Farmville and Words with Friends, for US$12.7bn.
The marrying of two gaming heavyweights spoke to the widespread consolidation trend sweeping the gaming sector.
The trend came to a head when Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced the takeover of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), developer of the hugely successful Call of Duty franchise, for nearly US$69bn earlier this year.
The deal has since hit a snare with the UK competition watchdog raising concerns on anti-competition grounds earlier this month.
“We are concerned that Microsoft could use its control over popular games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft post-merger to harm rivals," said the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).