Rockstar has been working with Ruffian Games for the past year in the ongoing development that have been rumored to be for Grand Theft Auto 5 and its never-ending content offered to players to keep them invested in the virtual world of Grand Theft Auto Online.
Tthe online game mode of the most recent iteration of the GTA franchise has now extended to three consoles with no further GTA announcements being verified by Rockstar.
The relationship has clearly proved fruitful on both sides, as Rockstar announced yesterday that they’re purchased Ruffian Games and has rebranded the studio as Rockstar Dundee.
While it’s relatively easy to be frustrated with Rockstar Games due to their piecemealing of content as astronomical prices, becoming the very studio that they used to readily lambast, and that they’ve mostly stopped any further iterations of the beloved Grand Theft Auto franchise, this is likely to be far better news than most would realize at first glance.
If the rumors that Ruffian was slated to continue work on iterative content for recently released Rockstar titles, this maneuver could free up Rockstar developers so they can actually get cracking on something new rather than rehashing the same content in an exhaustive stream.
Granted, that’s the ideal consumer move; Rockstar has been nearly printing money with GTAO thanks to Shark Cards and extremely low mission payouts, while offering shiny new vehicles and luxuries for hundreds of millions of dollars which in turn continues to encourage microtransactions.
The more business-savvy plan could likely continue to eye Grand Theft Auto 5 as the whipping post for additional content until the revenue stream eventually dies; if it does, as Rockstar is planning on re-re-releasing Grand Theft Auto 5 for the next generation of consoles.
Previously, Ruffian Games has had a hand in a few titles; notably Crackdown 2 (which many posit as the worst of the franchise) and also working with 343i on Halo: Reach for the Halo: The Master Chief Collection which was brought to PC with great fanfare and continues to schedule launches.
They’ve also released Kinect Star Wars and a Sesame Street title; arguably rough launches all that came with little fanfare.
Rockstar is likely going to rope Rockstar Dundee in for post-launch support considering the studio’s history as a short-term plan until they can find their metaphorical footing; here’s hoping that it all eventually results in Rockstar somehow finding their roots and delivering intense plot-lines with unrivaled player agency.