Red Dead Redemption 2 Is About The Death Of Rockstar

Rockstar will continue without Dan Houser, Leslie Benzies and Lazlow Jones, but it won't be the same. Publisher Take Two now have a vested interest in keeping GTA V's online component front and centre, being their profit from its mode alone was a cool $300 million across 2019.

Today, GTA as a franchise is GTA Online.

Where the 2000s saw GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories and two sizeable add-ons for GTA IV, the 2010s has been GTA V, its re-release, then GTA Online for the remaining six years. Even GTA V's single player DLC was cancelled and Rockstar's logo appearing before the PS5 reveal only meant GTA Online will continue onto next-gen hardware.

With no overarching creative forces in lead writing or producer positions anymore, you're left - like Arthur Morgan - reminiscing about the past. About a time GTA hadn't hit its glass ceiling, and a group of youthful designers stumbled onto a genre that would change gaming forever.

Along the way they broke many rules and wrote others in stone, actively changing the industry for the better and giving us many of the best games of all time.

I adore this period, it's what I grew up with, and it's one I'm glad to have witnessed year by year.

Rockstar's had one HELL of an innings, but like Bioware and Bungie, the key staff that brought you so many iconic scenes, lines of dialogue, music choices, gameplay ideas and more, just aren't going to be contributing going forward.

What that means for how we view the company; what direction their IPs take and whether they can replicate such a phenomenal run, remains to be seen.

For now, just be glad you were there at the beginning, as Rockstar's output will be talked about for the rest of gaming history.