It seems that development on the long-awaited GTA VI could finally be kicking it up a gear. Or is possibly finally just starting. You never can tell with the infamously tight-lipped Rockstar Games.
Either way, it appears that Rockstar North - the Edinburgh-based branch of the company that led development on Red Dead Redemption 2 - is hiring for an Animation Systems Programmer to work on a new project.
According to the job listing (as spotted by PlayStation Universe), the company is currently "developing advanced animation systems for large open world character-based games." As such, they're looking to hire someone who can "collaborate on pushing the boundaries of character animation on next-generation hardware." Sounds impressive.
"Next-generation hardware" is obviously a reference to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett, both of which will have launched by the end of 2020. Unfortunately, it's less clear what game Rockstar could be referring to specifically. The most obvious contender would be GTA VI, of course. A new entry in Rockstar's epic crime franchise could certainly be described as a "large open world character-based game."
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GTA V released way back in 2013 (and continues to sell ridiculously well), so we're certainly due a follow-up. Especially as we approach the launch of the next-gen consoles. I mean, Rockstar wouldn't just re-release GTA V again on PS5 and Scarlett... would it? Cue nervous laughter.
There's also the fact that Steven Ogg, who played Trevor in GTA V, recently suggested that a sequel would be released by 2020/2021. According to an attendee at Ogg's appearance on a panel at the Brazil Game Show, the actor revealed that GTA VI would be releasing at some point in the near(ish) future, reasoning that Rockstar's "games take 7-8 years to make, do the math."
Of course we have no idea if Ogg is involved in any way with GTA VI, meaning his comments could have been an educated guess, rather than juicy insider information.
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It's unlikely to be a new Red Dead Redemption, in my humble opinion. As Ogg correctly pointed out, we usually have a bit of a wait between Rockstar games, so I can't imagine we'll be getting Red Dead Redemption 3 so soon after Red Dead Redemption 2 - if at all.
There's a small chance the game in question could be Bully 2. Rumours of a sequel to the 2006 fan-favourite have been flying around a lot this year. It recently came to light that Rockstar started work on a follow-up years back, but ultimately decided to scrap it. That's not to say the studio would never start up work on it again, though.
Sadly, Rockstar never reveals anything official until its good and ready, so we're just gonna have to sit patiently and wait to find out what this mystery project is. It probably is GTA VI though.
Featured Image Credit: RockstarTopics: Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar, GTA VI, Grand Theft Auto