| Grand Theft Auto V | |
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The Grand Theft Auto V logo, with the 'V' drawn in a style similar to a banknote. |
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| Developer(s) | Rockstar North |
| Publisher(s) | Rockstar Games |
| Writer(s) | Dan Houser[1] |
| Series | Grand Theft Auto |
| Release date(s) | TBA |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, Open world[2] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (third-person view) |
Grand Theft Auto V is an upcoming action-adventure open world video game being developed by games developer Rockstar North in the United Kingdom and published by Rockstar Games. The game will be the first major title in the Grand Theft Auto series since Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), which started the fourth "era" in the series, and the fifteenth game overall.[lower-alpha 1] The game is to be set in fictional Los Santos in the state of San Andreas and its surrounding areas, based on modern-day Los Angeles and Southern California.[2] A rendition of Los Santos was previously featured as one of three cities in 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, from the series' third era. The debut trailer for Grand Theft Auto V was unveiled on 2 November 2011.[3]
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Recent announcements have been made that the game is currently in the process of development. In September 2009 during an earnings call, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick answered a listener's question about the next Grand Theft Auto. He replied, "We're not going to announce it, we're not going to announce when we are going to announce it, and we are not going to announce a strategy about announcing it or about when we are going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy."[4]
In a November 2009 interview with The Times, Grand Theft Auto producer Dan Houser discussed his work, including the future of the series. Houser stated that he planned to co-write a script that reached about one thousand pages in length. In the same interview, Houser explained the company's basic workflow of creating new games in the series, which involves coming up with the city first, and then the lead character later.[1][5][6]
In July 2010, Rockstar North posted seven job ads related to a new title. The firm looked to fill positions including Environment Artists, Physics Programmers and Character Animators. The job ad for the latter asking for those with "professional experience developing a third person action game". It was unknown if Rockstar was hiring for GTA V, or the firm was bulking up its Agent team.[7]
In December 2010, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said that the company "won't annualise" its biggest franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne and Red Dead. He told Reuters that doing so would threaten their quality and risk burning out consumers.[8]
In February and March 2011, there were several possible minor leaks of supposed GTA production, including domain name registrations,[9] and casting calls featuring previous GTA characters.[10] The first signs of the game went online in February 2011, via an actor's CV,[11] which was followed by the discovery of Rockstar-registered GTA style URLs.[12] In March a number of casting calls for voice acting in a project codenamed Rush were leaked onto the internet. Considering one role included James Pedeaston, a radio personality in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the project was presumed to concern Rockstar.[13][14][15]
In June 2011, sources allegedly close to the developer said the title is "well under way", with final touches like mini-games already being applied, and a 2012 release "pretty likely". "It's the big one," they also said of the game, noting that GTA V's scale is vast.[16]
In a July 2011 interview with PSM3, Team Bondi co-founder Brendan McNamara was asked if Rockstar (who published Bondi's 2011 L.A. Noire) was considering the proprietary MotionScan face-scanning technology for the next GTA game. McNamara replied, "Yeah, I think they're looking at it for every game. As much as L.A. Noire is a huge game, Grand Theft Auto is incredibly huge, so you've got all the problems of how big the cast would be and how many lines would you have to record and all that kind of stuff. Obviously we'd like them to, and they're more than welcome to use MotionScan, but if they decide it's not right for that and want to use it for another game, then that's fine too."[17]
On 25 October 2011, Rockstar Games announced Grand Theft Auto V via their Twitter account, which included the #GTAV hash tag and a link to their homepage, which displayed the game's logo.[18] The 'V' in the logo is styled like a bank note.[19] A message was printed below the logo stating that a trailer would be released on 2 November 2011.[20] On 26 October 2011, Rockstar put a Grand Theft Auto V trailer countdown on their homepage.[21] Shares of Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, jumped seven percent following the revelation that Grand Theft Auto V is in development.[22]
On 26 October, video game website Kotaku claimed that it had been told that rumours about Rockstar being set to make a switch to reality by recreating real-world Los Angeles for GTA V "are true" by "a source familiar with the game". Kotaku said that GTA V will be set in "some version of L.A."[23][24]
On 2 November, Rockstar released the debut trailer for Grand Theft Auto V.[3] Giving fans a first look at the upcoming title, the trailer revealed the setting to be Los Santos, the fictional version of Los Angeles and its California surroundings, including Hollywood ("Vinewood") and rural hills and valleys. Additional features revealed in the trailer included golf, planes, jetskis, and a working gym. The song used in the trailer is "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" by the British band The Small Faces.[25]
On 3 November, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto V was in full development and that it would take place within Los Santos and its "surrounding hills, countryside and beaches", and that it would be "the largest and the most ambitious game Rockstar has yet created", with Sam Houser describing it as a "radical reinvention of the Grand Theft Auto universe".[26] A version of Los Santos was previously featured in 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, along with two other cities that were part of that rendition of the state of San Andreas (Las Venturas and San Fierro, based on Las Vegas and San Francisco, respectively). Rockstar parent Take-Two called GTA V "a bold new direction in open-world freedom, storytelling, mission-based gameplay and online multiplayer," while confirming that its story will focus on "the pursuit of the almighty dollar in a re-imagined, present-day Southern California." No release date or platforms were provided in the announcement.[2]
On 8 November, Take-Two's second quarter financial earnings report included an update on future product launch dates, with the newest game to be added to the list was GTA V, which carried a "TBA" release. Little official news has been said about the game since its announcement trailer, but Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick did have this to say:
| “ | Looking ahead, Take-Two has the strongest development pipeline in the company's history. At the cornerstone of our stellar line-up is the recently announced next instalment of Rockstar Games' iconic franchise that has sold-in more than 114 million units - Grand Theft Auto V. The creative team at Rockstar Games continues to set benchmarks for excellence with every new release and we're confident that consumers' enthusiasm will be rewarded with a breathtaking entertainment experience that can only be provided by Grand Theft Auto.[27] | ” |
In October 2011, HMV's head of games Tim Ellis said the announcement of GTA V will bring a new boost to the market. Ellis told MCV a new GTA launch is "a fantastic development that would inject huge excitement into the games market for fans, retailers and media alike," adding Rockstar would "face the challenge of delivering another brilliant game that’s as good if not better than anything we’ve seen before."[28] In addition, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich claimed, while speaking about his top five gaming predictions for the next year, that GTA V would be 2012's biggest release, coming out ahead of other big releases such as the next Call of Duty installation.[29]
According to Google Trends data, GTA V was named the most searched game scheduled to be released in 2012, even despite no official release date being announced at the time.[30]
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