Rockstar May Release Games More Frequently Going Forward

According to a new report, Take-Two Interactive is pressuring its subsidiary, Rockstar Games, to release games more frequently. As you may know, back in the day, Rockstar Games used to really pump titles out. And there's probably nothing more indicative of this than when it released Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas all within three years. Meanwhile, seven years passed between the developer's two most recent games: Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Heck, we haven't even gotten a single new GTA game this generation, which is crazy when you realize we once got three in three years.

Now, obviously Rockstar Games' titles are much more ambitious than they used to be. For many years they've been one of the best in the business, but now they sit upon the throne and release not just generational classics, but some of the best games of all time. I mean, anyone who sunk a meaningful amount of time into Red Dead Redemption 2 will understand why that game took so long to develop. Further, both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V made a bajillion dollars. I mean, the latter is the second best-selling game of all time, and continues to print boatloads of money via GTA Online. In other words, everything is going swimmingly for Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive, who is making a ton of money off the games maker. That said, it seems Take-Two thinks it can extract even more from the company by making it release games a bit more frequently.

According to prominent Rockstar Games YouTuber, SWEGTA, Take-Two Interactive is pressuring Rockstar Games to release games more frequently, which lines up with what I've heard from my own sources.

Take-Two is reportedly pressuring Rockstar Games to return to their more frequent game release schedule.

Although this probably would be bad for bigger franchises like GTA and Red Dead, it could incentivize them to continue focusing on much smaller titles like Bully and Manhunt.

— SWEGTA (@SWEGTA) January 17, 2020

Now, whether this pressure will manifest into anything tangible, who knows. Only time will tell, but it's promising news for fans of series Rockstar has shelved in the wake of the massive GTA and Red Dead success, such as Bully, Max Payne, and Manhunt. However, as SWEGTA points out, this could be bad news for the aforementioned series, which could see less development time and resources going forward.