There have been rumblings that Rockstar may be planning to remaster the three
Grand Theft Auto games from the PlayStation 2 era for a while now. They first started last month when Take-Two suddenly started issuing takedown notices for classic GTA mods, and continued when, in a
Q1 2022 earnings call that they have three unannounced "new iterations of previously released titles" in the pipeline. A new report from Kotaku, who cannot name their source but insists they have reliably delivered news about
GTA Online and
Red Dead Online "weeks if not months in advance," gives more solid details on the remasters. No specific mention was given to gameplay, but they will apparently strive to replicate the PS2 experience as closely as possible. On the visual front, the games are being remastered in the Unreal Engine and will be a mix of "new and old graphics." The UI has been updated but will retain the same style, and one source who's seen the games says they look like a heavily-modded version of the PS2 games.
The release plans have changed quite a bit for these remasters, according to Kotaku's source. Originally they were meant to be included as a bonus for those who purchased the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S version of
Grand Theft Auto V, but then they were pushed ahead to a release earlier this year, before that plan changed too. Right now, they're planned to be released in either late October or early November on the previous- and current-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles, the Nintendo Switch, PC, Stadia, and mobile. The plan is to sell them all as one package, and they will possibly only be sold digitially. The studio is reportedly also considering a remaster of
Red Dead Redemption, but will base their decision to remaster that game on the reception to the
GTA remasters.
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