With the collapse of the Agent trademark and L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi, Rockstar have been without a new IP for almost a decade now. Granted the studio takes their time and doesn't release games as frequently as they once did, but there comes a point where fans will start hankering for something new and different.
Grand Theft Auto is a huge moneymaker for Rockstar, and with the unprecedented success of GTA Online, it's less and less likely that the publisher will ever stop prioritising that franchise over their other licenses, or even over the development of new intellectual property. That's understandable - and even welcome, for the vast majority of players out there - but there comes a point when even GTA overstays its welcome.
L.A. Noire and the first Red Dead Redemption where rightly lauded for offering something new and different in 2010 and 2011 respectively, but with GTA VI seemingly the next title in the works at Rockstar, it could be a long time until the studio contemplate bringing a new IP to market.
Agent may not have worked out in the end, but the prospect of something new still captivated fans while it was still in the works. Here's hoping they didn't throw all those ideas away, and will make the next gen one of their most inventive yet.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
