NEW YORK: The maker of the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video game franchise announced that a new edition is under development, confirming long-bubbling speculation.
New York-based Rockstar Games did not say when ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ will hit the street or how it will be different from the previous edition of the game released in 2013 to blockbuster sales.
“With the unprecedented longevity of GTAV, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered,” the studio’s subsidiary Take Two Interactive said in an online post. “We’re pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the series is underway,” the statement added.
More than 230 million copies of Grand Theft Auto, referred to as GTA have been sold overall. An online, multi-player version of the game boasts a large and devoted community of fans, some of whom took to Twitter to express delight at the news.
The GTA franchise in which players take on the role of a criminal has been criticised for glorifying law-breaking, violence and abuse of women. The system is designed to make for more realistic traffic behaviour, creating more life-like road users – with a particular view to making it useful in a “multiplayer network gaming community.”
This will be the first modern GTA game released after the departure of Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser, who helped write all the GTA games from 2 to 5, as well as the Red Dead series, Bully, and Max Payne 3. His brother, Sam Houser, remains on the project.