GTA 5 in VR looks likely after new Rockstar game announced

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Rockstar's next AAA game will be made entirely in VR, it seems, after an Australian dev leaked information about an upcoming title from the GTA and Red Dead Redemption publisher.

Posting on LinkedIn (opens in new tab), the development studio Video Games Deluxe shared that it was "now gearing up for a new project, a AAA open world title in VR for Rockstar. 2020 marks our 7th year of working exclusively for Rockstar in Sydney and we are excited to taking on this ground breaking project."

The studio previously worked with Rockstar on the VR iteration of L.A. Noire (L.A. Noire: The V.R. Case Files) on PC and PSVR, meaning we have no reason to doubt the information. 

With a paucity of details around Rockstar's development plans after Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), too, this is the clearest sign yet of the studio's ambitions in years to come.

Don't expect a new IP

The question is really what angle Rockstar is going for in a VR game. This certainly won't be GTA 6 – the colloquial name for the as-yet unconfirmed sequel to GTA 5 – given the smaller reach of VR hardware compared to current-gen consoles. 

As an "AAA open world title", and given Video Games Deluxe's previous work adapting a Rockstar IP for VR, it's likely that we're seeing an existing GTA or Red Dead Redemption game enter the world of virtual reality. 

Our money's on GTA 5 (2013), given its continued popularity and release on multiple platforms – and it also hints at plans for the next generation of console VR gaming in PSVR 2, when a new iteration of Sony's VR headset eventually launches on the PS5.

So, will players soon be exploring Los Santos in a VR headset? Less likely things have happened.

Via Road to VR (opens in new tab)

Henry St Leger

Henry is a freelance technology journalist. Before going freelance, he spent more than three years at TechRadar reporting on TVs, projectors and smart speakers as the website's Home Cinema Editor – and has been interviewed live on both BBC World News and Channel News Asia, discussing the future of transport and 4K resolution televisions respectively. As a graduate of English Literature and persistent theatre enthusiast, he'll usually be found forcing Shakespeare puns into his technology articles, which he thinks is what the Bard would have wanted. Bylines also include Edge, T3, and Little White Lies.