At the moment, all we know for certain is that a new GTA is being worked on. Rockstar's co-founder, Dan Houser, confirmed to The Times in 2009 that a new GTA will be made at some point. "We'll think of a city first, then the characters," said Houser. That interview was nearly 2 years ago and thus we can safely assume that the new GTA is well into development.
GTA 5 Box Art
Grand Theft Auto 5. Coming soon? We hope.
The only other details we know at this time is that the game is being developed by Edinburgh-based Rockstar North (as has always been the case) and that it won't be set in Liberty City! Anything else you read is speculation.
The Title
The title of the new Grand Theft Auto is unknown, but we expect it will be called "Grand Theft Auto V" (or "Grand Theft Auto 5"). In the past, some titles have taken the form of "Grand Theft Auto: [Location Name]" (e.g. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) but that's because Vice City and San Andreas were part of a trilogy with GTA III and were essentially expansions of the GTA III world. Former Rockstar CEO Terry Donovan admitted that this was the plan from the beginning:
It was really important for us to do this trilogy. A fictional New York in a contemporary setting, Miami in the '80s, and a '90s Cali - that was the trilogy. That was the plan from a long time ago.
— Terry Donovan, Former R* CEO (talking to Game Informer)
As yet, there has been nothing to suggest that the next few games will follow the same pattern. Dan Houser told the Official PlayStation Magazine in 2007 (a year before GTA IV was released) that Rockstar had yet to make up their minds, saying that: "to be honest with you, we haven't yet figured out if this [GTA IV] is going to be leading onto another bunch of games or not. We are just focusing on this at the moment."
Houser certainly doesn't rule out another trilogy, but the growing time gaps between GTA releases makes it unlikely, we think. At the time of writing, it's been 3 years since GTA IV was released, and I'm sure you would agree that 3 years is an awfully long time to wait for Part 2 of a story! We expect GTA 5 to stand very much on its own, although that's not to say it won't feature some loose connections to previous GTAs. The important thing to remember is that anything is possible. There isn't always a perfect pattern, and just because GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas formed a trilogy, doesn't mean the next few games will aswell.
Release Date
The new GTA will be released in 2012, or 2013 at the very latest. Since GTA 4's release in 2008, Rockstar North has been busy working on several projects. They made a large contribution to Red Dead Redemption and they have also been contributing to Max Payne 3 and L.A. Noire. Additionally, the team has been working on a new PlayStation 3 title called Agent, of which we know little about at the moment. Agent was Rockstar's main project after GTA IV, but since no details have been revealed since the original announcement, we assume it's been delayed internally for whatever reason (note: no release date for Agent was ever announced, but it seems strange to announce a game and then not say anything about it for 2 years!).
Platforms
There have been no reports of a new Xbox or PlayStation console arriving any time soon. It is therefore likely that the new GTA will be developed for the current generation of consoles (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3). A PC version will hopefully be made in addition. Grand Theft Auto was born on the PC in 1997, but in recent times the console versions have taken priority, with the PC versions typically arriving 8 months after the console releases. After the troubled release of the GTA IV PC, however, Rockstar may decide not to bother making a PC version of GTA 5. Hopefully that's not the case, but only time will tell. The great thing about the PC versions is the ability to modify the game's content, which extends the game's lifespan to almost infinity. San Andreas PC is still an incredibly popular game, 6 years after its release, thanks to all the awesome cars, weapons, multiplayer mods and mission mods generated by fans.
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