The Biggest Missed Opportunity In Rockstar History

Rockstar's GTA Focus Makes Sense, But It's Also Boring

And this is the other reason why I'm holding out hope for Rockstar to resurrect L.A. Noire - GTA, while very much a beloved, stupidly successful pillar of the industry, has gotten stale. There's no doubt in my mind that the upcoming sixth mainline entry is going to be an industry leader across every metric that matters - and also become the fastest, highest-selling video game of all time - but its overdue arrival isn't without some notable asterisks.

For one, there's the saturation of GTA V, a game that has been re-released across multiple console generations and whose multiplayer component, GTA Online, has swallowed up so much of Rockstar's attention over the last decade because of its cash cow status. That's a lot of time to spend in one iteration of a franchise, no matter how good it is, and that sense of overfamiliarity not only lessens the shine of GTA, but also draws attention to the lack of investment and attention given to other areas of Rockstar's stable - specifically Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne, and of course L.A. Noire. There's no denying the quality or potential in GTA, but its vortex-like grip on Rockstar makes the company less interesting.

Compare Rockstar's 2007-2013 period to the 10 years that immediately followed. Within those six years, Rockstar developed and published a variety of titles, including two GTAs (plus accompanying single-player DLC), a cult-favourite Max Payne sequel in Max Payne 3, and two new franchises in Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire. The studio followed up that period with arguably its greatest work to date in Red Dead Redemption 2. Still, even that seemed to play second fiddle to GTA V once the dust had settled on its release, with Rockstar releasing constant updates for GTA Online during and after RDR2's launch, as well as a next-gen remaster - something that Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 are still yet to receive.

Economically speaking, the neglect of Rockstar's other franchises makes a frustrating amount of sense. GTA rakes in billions of dollars each year, and that's without having to release a new instalment. L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption both sold well, but they didn't reach GTA numbers, and likely never will. Grand Theft Auto is a cultural behemoth, and between that and the reality that game development is getting longer and more costly, pursuing those less popular franchises will make less business sense to Rockstar and Take-Two - even if the end result is a cannibalised and fundamentally more boring iteration of an industry-leading studio.

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