Rockstar Games is busying porting Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online to modern consoles, but it seems that they aren't the only GTA games making the jump this year. A new report backs up previous rumors that a Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy, collecting the PS2-era Grand Theft Auto games, is not only in development, but is actually set to launch at some point within the next few months.
This report comes courtesy of Kotaku, citing sources that Rockstar is working to remaster the classic PS2-era Grand Theft Auto games, which would be Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. Kotaku's sources believe that this trilogy of games will be released at some point in late October or early November on multiple platforms, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. If true, this will mark the first time these games have been available to play on a Nintendo console. PC and mobile versions are also planned, but Kotaku believes that they could slip to 2022.
According to Kotaku's sources, the games are being remastered using Unreal Engine and will include a mix of "new and old graphics." The games will have an updated UI, but are otherwise expected to remain faithful to the original releases. It seems that the Rockstar Dundee studio is leading the charge on the remasters, along with assisting on the PS5 and Xbox Series X ports of Grand Theft Auto 5.
While Rockstar Dundee is the lead studio on the Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy, it's not the only team at the company that's working on the project. If Kotaku's information is accurate, it seems "many other studios" are helping in an effort to make sure it releases before the next-gen version of GTA 5. This is said to be part of the reason why Red Dead Online updates have slowed down recently.
Apparently, these remastered Grand Theft Auto games were originally meant to b e released as a free gift to those who purchased the PS5 and Xbox Series X ports of GTA 5 and GTA Online. Those plans changed due to a variety of reasons, and now they're going to be released as a standalone, digital-only product.
This report is in line with previous rumors about a Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy as well as Take-Two's admitted plans to release remasters. To that end, Rockstar Games is reportedly considering even more remasters, with Red Dead Redemption namedropped as one possibility, though that will depend on the success of the Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy.
Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy is rumored to be in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Kotaku