Rockstar Games co-founder and writer of Red Dead Redemption 2, Dan Houser, has revealed why we never got Bully 2. Rockstar Games is known for some of the best games in the industry with the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead franchises, but they’ve also been responsible for some great one-off titles like Bully as well. The T-rated open-world game followed a rebellious kid in a preppy private school, combatting the various cliques around the school. It was a novel concept and one that really resonated with fans. It was different enough from something like GTA while still keeping the level of detail and humor that fans look for in that series.
Videos by ComicBook.com
It was heavily reported in the late 2000s and early 2010s that Bully 2 was in the works at Rockstar Games, despite never being formally announced. In 2009, composer Shawn Lee stated that he was going to be doing the score for Bully 2 in the not too distant future, suggesting that the game was certainly out of the conceptual phase. However, nothing ever came of this. The following years would see the releases of Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire, Max Payne 3, and of course, Grand Theft Auto V before a five year gap that would end with Red Dead Redemption 2.
Dan Houser Reveals Why Bully 2 Was Never Made
With Bully now being almost 20 years old and writers like Dan Houser now being gone from Rockstar, it seems less and less likely Bully 2 will ever happen. During a rare interview with Houser, IGN asked the creative why Bully 2 never happened. The answer is surprisingly simple and an unfortunate reality of game development: not enough time or resources.
“I think there was just bandwidth issues,” said Houser. “If you’ve got a small lead creative team and a small leadership crew you just can’t do all the projects you want.”
Over the years, it has been reported what Bully 2 would have looked like and according to reports, some of the features planned for that game actually made their way into Red Dead Redemption 2 such as a more nuanced open world and deeper interactions with the NPCs. Although Rockstar Games is massive, the team made the decision to solely focus on Red Dead Redemption 2 after GTA 5. Multiple Rockstar studios would work on different games, but it was eventually decided that they could do their best work on one game by all coming together.
As a result, that seems to be why Bully 2 never happened. Rockstar became a one game at a time developer and Red Dead Redemption 2 was the more logical project over Bully 2. Red Dead Redemption was a much bigger critical and commercial success, but it also likely had a stronger foundation for an online mode, which Rockstar was likely seeking after GTA Online. Maybe one day we’ll see Bully 2, but it seems unlikely. GTA 6 is Rockstar’s next game, but it’s hard to say what they’ll do next. A new IP may make the most sense, but it will likely be many years before we find out.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Paramount+ -
A closeup of a PlayStation 5 with a controller on top.
