Developer Rockstar Games has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 5 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 11 this year. As soon as I saw this news, I had to question why this decision had been made. The game made the transition from PS3 and Xbox 360 to PS4 and Xbox One because it launched very late in the latter’s lifecycle. The new versions of the game brought additional features that have become essential to everyone that plays them now. With this move though, I don’t know why Rockstart Games is bothering unless it’s purely to capture those players who will only buy physical copies of games.,
There’s no denying that Grand Theft Auto 5 is a terrific game. However, most people playing today are only playing the game’s online mode. You can download that for free, and there’s no need to spend any money on it if you don’t want to. So it begs the question even further as to why Rockstar Games is doing this. I don’t see what other meaningful changes can be made, other than upgrading the visuals. On one hand, I think that’s nice for fans, but on the other, I think fans would prefer that a new game comes out.
On that note, I do believe that Rockstar Games is, for lack of a better word, remastering Grand Theft Auto 5 this year to lay the groundwork for Grand Theft Auto 6 in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets announced at E3 with a 2022 release date, but we’ll have to wait to see if that’s true. These games are always guaranteed to sell well, and right now there’s a gap in the current console generation for high-quality games like Grand Theft Auto 5. Rockstar Games is capitalising on that gap, but they’re not really filling it.
Hopefully, this is all a big lead up to the announcement of a new game. It’s been far too long without one, and I think the entire games industry needs it if we’re going to have anything to keep us busy this winter. Rockstar Games is pushing older products forward to keep them relevant, but that will only work for so long. I have to say, I certainly won’t be playing Grand Theft Auto 5 again just because it’s a new console.
