Though it definitely doesn’t need the extra sales, and a PC version would most likely take precedence over it, many people are still left wondering what Rockstar’s next-gen plans are for Grand Theft Auto V, and the series in general.
When Dan Houser, Rockstar’s Co-Founder and Vice President of Creativity, was asked by The Guardian whether the new systems interest him and if he thinks to himself, ‘Oh wow, what will GTA VI look like on a PS4′, he said:
Of course we’re interested. But no, not in terms of GTA, because we’re always working on the current game. We look at the tech at a more practical level: what will be ready for which game that we’re working on further down the line. We don’t have another GTA in development, we don’t work on three of these games at a time. That would be phenomenally depressing.
So, in terms of GTA, no. We get pitched by the hardware manufacturers on what they’re planning to do and our tech guys come up with ideas on how that could be used. Does this influence design decisions? Of course. But we’re not sat there fantasizing about 10 years down the line. We’re so busy with what we’re doing right now.
Asked further about that lack of a 10 year plan for Grand Theft Auto at Rockstar, Houser replied:
This was the best game we could make at this point in time – we’re not holding anything back for the future. If you said to me now, go and design another GTA, I’d be like, ‘Oh what the fuck am I going to do next?’ But hopefully, when the time comes, we will figure out what was good, what wasn’t, and what could be improved with a bit of tech. The reason the game is still vibrant and exciting 11 years after it went into 3D is because we haven’t done that. We’ve gone all out on every version to try and make the absolute best game we could make at that time.
And yes, we’ve had to cut features out because they couldn’t be done, or whatever it might be, but each time we’ve been ambitious and pushed ourselves as hard as we could. Of course a part of me would love not to have to worry about GTA anymore, but another part of me goes, ‘I’m so excited to see what the guys have come up with and what we can all do when the time comes’. We’re focused purely on finishing this – and that’s what allows us to maintain some semblance of sanity.
As much as Sebastian, our resident British staff member, is enjoying Grand Theft Auto V right now, he would be much happier if it took place in the UK. Speaking to having the UK as a location for future GTA games, Houser said:
These days I think we would love to set a game in the UK, set in London, whatever, but I don’t know if it would be a GTA game. I think there are plenty of great stories we could tell about the UK, great environments to showcase, great gameplay mechanics that could have a UK bent to them – I just don’t think it would be a GTA necessarily.
There are so many games we’d like to make that we just don’t have the bandwidth to make at the moment. But we always think, well the future is long and varied, and that’s what the future’s for. Speaking for myself – and normally I’d be as militant about saying ‘we’ as much as possible, because it certainly isn’t only me at all, thank god – but my own personal feeling is that GTA is America. With this game, I think, we’re very happy with the location. It let us do something iconic.
What are some other countries you’d like to see Grand Theft Auto take place in? Canada? Mexico? Let us know in the comments below.
