That doesn’t include those added with DLC or expansions, which means you could already have quite a few on your profile if you’re part of the program. It even goes as far back as  Xbox 360 titles, which means that there are probably a lot that you’re proud of seeing through to their finish, now waiting to be showcased to your friends and loved ones on Xbox.

Does this bring anything more than bragging rights? Probably not. Are those bragging rights a great way to appreciate how far modern gaming has come by making you look back at all the great games you’ve played over the years? Definitely. On balance, we’d call this one a win, and it’s definitely better than Microsoft’s CEO saying what he said about the recent layoffs at Xbox. Stay tuned for more details on Mythic Achievements and when they’ll roll out to regular users.

Olga was seen as a necessary boss fight that couldn’t be avoided since defeating her is how Snake gets his hands on the USP pistol, which is necessary to destroy the sensors that would trigger an explosion in another part of the ship. The tranquilizer pistol itself, while far more effective when it comes to dealing with enemies, can’t destroy these sensors, and as a result, players can’t avoid the fight against Olga.

In a video showcasing the skip, Apel takes us through the early parts of the Tanker chapter, swiftly making their way to the ship’s bridge where the encounter takes place. Along the way, Apel picks up all the extras they might need, like ammo, while also taking out a few troublesome guards with their tranquilizer pistol. When it’s time to actually deal with the sensors, rather than getting their hands on the USP pistol, Apel instead lures a guard to the sensors to trigger an explosion.

How the skip works is a bit more complicated when taking behind-the-scenes details into account. Like many games, Metal Gear Solid 2 also has progression flags that are triggered in its memory state to track player progress. While players will still get a game over screen even if Snake isn’t directly the one to trigger the explosion, the speedrunner can avoid this by rolling into a checkpoint while the bomb is being triggered. This means that the “game saves the value of the flag after the explosions happen”, which means that the encounter with Olga can be completely skipped.

Along with being a major step forward for the speedrunning community for Metal Gear Solid 2 in general, this is also the only boss skip to have been discovered in the game so far. Despite players having discovered many tricks over the years that might allow them to speed through various areas of the title, the boss fights have always been considered mandatory. This new skip will likely lead to plenty of speedrunners figuring out new, quicker routes through the game. As a result, there will also likely be a plethora of new world records set in the coming days.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was originally released on the PS2 back in 2001. The title eventually made its way to more platforms – the PS3 and Xbox 360 – thanks to its HD Edition re-release alongside Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. When it comes to modern gaming hardware, players can get their hands on the title by picking up Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, which was released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch back in 2023. Check out our review for more details.

It was once synonymous with horror in gaming, being a pillar of the genre within the medium with innovative ideas, well-written stories, insightful interpretations of complex themes, and of course, gameplay that had you on edge for a significant part of your playtime. But that rise to glory had been balanced out by a fall from grace marked by inconsistent releases, cancelled projects, and a loss of the creative identity that set its games apart in the first place.

But all that’s in the distant past, and a more recent appraisal of the franchise’s fortunes, beginning with that excellent remake of Silent Hill 2, paints the story of a comeback worth examining as we look at a busy, and potentially bright, future for the franchise.

How has it shaped that turnaround? What has Konami done differently this time around to warrant its newfound success? We asked the same questions, and we’re happy to tell you more about what we found along the way. Let’s begin!

Back To The Beginning

Silent Hill’s newfound glory is better understood through the lens of what it has managed to achieve in the past, and the decisions that led it there. It’s important to remember how the first four titles in the franchise created an identity distinct from Resident Evil, another strong presence in the horror space at the time.

Where human greed and its consequences guided the stories in Raccoon City and its surroundings, Silent Hill took a more psychological approach, diving deep into human depravity and how it could manifest in the worlds the franchise’s protagonists found themselves in.

Every title brought an atmosphere so oppressive it became a frightening presence in and of itself, while the excellent use of each soundstage, subtle symbolism, and very insightful storytelling were once hallmarks of the franchise. Silent Hill 2 became a benchmark thanks to how well all of these elements came together to make it a title that didn’t really have anything to compare it against at the time.

But all of these positive traits would have meant nothing in games that didn’t manage to keep their players invested in what was unfolding in front of them. And while the franchise’s early lineup didn’t need to worry about such concerns, the same can’t be said for the ones that followed.

A Frightening Lack of Direction

Silent Hill: Origins is probably a good game to examine what caused the franchise to lose much of the momentum it had built through its earlier successes. The prequel was quite good as a Silent Hill title, but you could already see that it lacked the inspiration and insight that made its predecessors as famous as they were.

It was still a moody, atmospheric return to the titular town, but it lacked the subtlety of the franchise’s other entries, a facet that often made it feel like a lore drop rather than a full-fledged story that took the franchise in an interesting new direction. Homecoming felt largely the same, although it did bring technical improvements like a controllable camera and some excellent visual upgrades to the franchise’s formula.

But Alex’s search for his brother began to feel like the franchise’s ability to innovate was beginning to run out of steam despite a fairly strong offering from Double Helix after it took over from Climax Studios, which handled Origins.

Climax Studios would return with Shattered Memories, a radical reimagining of the original Silent Hill that drew praise for its bold ideas but rather shaky presentation, with the weaponless chase sequences not feeling as potent as they could have been thanks to the game distinguishing between safety and danger too strongly.

Vatra Games’ effort with Downpour was a similarly flawed experience, drawing both praise and criticism alike, and bringing an important aspect of the situation to the forefront. Despite each title’s individual strengths, it was clear that the Silent Hill franchise was lacking direction and focus, and different interpretations of its best features weren’t necessarily making the most of them all.

But does that mean the franchise had already lost its potency and potential? We’d argue that that was hardly the case.

The Comeback That Never Was

There was still P.T. in the mix, and it came out of nowhere to revive hope in a franchise that could have been easy to write off as past its prime. Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, and what was slated to eventually become Silent Hills.

Not only did it revive interest in the franchise, but the potential from such a collaboration of great minds could also blend very well with a formula that was already proven to work when it was targeted at things beyond the ordinary. A detail that becomes significant as we move a little later down the line.

But for now, we return to the cancellation of Silent Hills, and the loss of a potentially exciting future for the franchise at the time. It would mark the beginning of a long period of dormancy, one that would see the franchise’s reputation survive only through its community and word of the heights that it was once capable of. It also marked an era where the competition continued to delve into psychological horror, a territory that the franchise once had firmly in its grasp, and perhaps even helped define.

The vehicle for the franchise now felt like it had been abandoned along the side of the road it once helped pave, blazing a path that other titles were now speeding along. But Konami didn’t give up on a franchise that was as great as this one, and the next few years might already be familiar to you, but merit a close look to understand why the new bevy of Silent Hill games have succeeded where others have not.

Regaining Its Form And Footing

2022 marked the beginning of a new chapter for the franchise, although there was no way of knowing about all the great memories it was going to give us at the time. We didn’t get news of just one game from Konami, but were told about the remake of Silent Hill 2 from Bloober Team, two new games, and a new movie!

Producer Motoi Okamoto would later explain that Konami never really intended to “test the waters” with one remake before committing to the franchise again, but was rather choosing to bet big on it right from the get-go. However, the intent behind the move doesn’t negate the valid skepticism that surrounded the announcement given the franchise’s history with external studios working on Silent Hill games.

That Silent Hill 2 was the game being remade was a big enough reason, given how much reverence it has garnered from fans over the years. Bloober had its task cut out for it, having to modernize the classic without sacrificing any of its original appeal. But the remake didn’t just manage to impress its critics, but also generated revenues that were impressive.

Five million cumulative players over combined sales metrics isn’t a joke after all, and is perhaps the best example of how the franchise regained its relevance in the current generation of games. Of course, the remake’s success could not dispel apprehensions about the game that followed it.

Silent Hill f was bringing several departures to Hinako’s story that could have, and perhaps even did, put off a few hardcore fans before they actually got to play it. It was based in Japan, in an entirely new location for starters, with combat mechanics that looked like they were putting too much of an emphasis on action instead of the franchise’s horror-focused roots.

And yet, what we got was a game that was quintessentially Silent Hill, packaged in a new world, premise, and story that helped sell everything that was great about the franchise so well, it made 1960s Japan feel like a natural new home for the experience it aimed for.

Hinako’s deeply personal story, her harrowing confrontations with her own inner demons, and the way all of it resolved was nothing short of extraordinary, and perhaps the best reflection of what the franchise was capable of when it fired on all cylinders back in the day. Konami was quick to point out that it was the first new Silent Hill game in a dozen years, and it reaching a million sales in two days is a showcase of the franchise’s unfading allure over the years. Townfall’s our next stop on this examination of the franchise’s current fortunes, and it marks an exciting new chapter for it.

A More Modern Silent Hill

If you think about it, Townfall is the third piece of a revival trilogy that showcases what has worked well for Silent Hill this time around. The first-person perspective was a welcome touch in an experience that used it well to bring a new location, art style, and narrative angle to life.

We didn’t expect examinations of the relationships between individuals, corporations, and societies in small towns to be effective vehicles for the kind of story beats that the franchise is used to telling, but Simon’s time in St. Amelia is definitely among the finer outings it has given us.

Okamoto’s assertion that it was intended to bring yet another axis to the franchise after the remake’s traditional approach and the new Japan-focused title showcases a revival that isn’t relying on a standardized formula, but on creating thoughtful interpretations of what the franchise has always examined, through the lenses of different creative teams.

With SH2 Remake, Bloober Team was able to successfully preserve those examinations while presenting them in a modernized classic. Silent Hill f took things to a new setting, story, and very unique art style to prove that it could be fresh yet familiar. Townfall has now reiterated that, while also proving that new external studios can radically reinterpret its formula while preserving its best elements and psychological horror foundations.

That variety is perhaps the best feature of Silent Hill’s current-gen revival, and it’s great that Konami isn’t asking every developer to deliver another SH2, but is instead asking them what the franchise means to their particular teams and creative perspectives. That’s probably the biggest difference between the franchise’s less successful years and now, as it has found success today despite some common factors.

Various developers working on different titles is an obvious one, as are the varying interpretations of the franchise’s story and gameplay loop. However, one crucial difference is that three successive titles could not give us a sense of deliberate strategy, and the feeling that each new game was building on the ideas before it.

However, diversity and a sense of forward momentum have felt like they’ve been baked into the underlying pillars of the latest titles, and it’s an irony that isn’t lost on us. Silent Hill has rediscovered its identity by accepting that it doesn’t have to be one specific thing, and operate within a limited framework of creative and technical options because of it.

A Long Road Ahead

It’s all well and good that the franchise has found a solid enough purchase in a modern gaming industry where even great games might not get the recognition they deserve from time to time. But how does Konami aim to sustain the momentum it has built for it?

We think the news is good, or at least a reason to be optimistic about the franchise’s chances. The remake of the original Silent Hill from Bloober is on the cards, and we see no reason to doubt that studio’s outing after the excellence it has displayed with its previous effort and with Cronos: The New Dawn. It’s a solid next step, and perhaps indicative of a newfound confidence.

Modernizing Harry Mason’s journey while rebuilding the 1999 game to make for a new experience that doesn’t just feel like SH2 Remake again. We’ve no information on how combat and exploration are changing yet, or about whether Bloober plans to expand the town, but we cannot understate the significance of making the original game that started the franchise’s journey more accessible to a modern audience.

Konami’s ambitions for the franchise might have seemed surprisingly aggressive to us when it first announced its plans for the franchise four years ago, but with Okamoto expressing hope for an “annual release of new games”, and that players should look forward to future experiences that take the franchise’s formula in bold new directions, it’s easy to see that it certainly has high hopes for its continued success.

The company has since stated it aims to go beyond the confirmed remake and Townfall too, which means we’ve got more Silent Hill on the horizon. But what would it entail? Remakes of Silent Hill 3 & 4 are definitely options to look into, considering how those games mark the franchise’s golden years and have been benchmarks against which the ones that followed them were judged.

But there’s the risk of bringing in too much Silent Hill to a franchise whose greatest problem was not having enough of it at one point. Once again, the irony is evident, but that doesn’t mitigate the risk of an ambitious release cadence diluting Konami’s ability to quality-control releases well enough for them to sustain the standards its recent titles have now created.

This is a franchise that relies heavily on its atmospheric storytelling and gameplay to bring distinctive creative voices and narrative insights to life through the eyes of its characters. A yearly release cycle could make things a tad too predictable, a fallacy that has often brought problems to even the finest of stories and innovative series of games.

Silent Hill’s exciting revival could become the very reason it loses steam if it doesn’t manage to meet the standards that its latest titles have now established as its baseline. However, this is a franchise that has already weathered one rise and fall, rising again and managing to stand tall in the process.

Its return isn’t as remarkable to us in hindsight, though. It’s in how it achieved the comeback that fascinates us, and also gives us confidence that whatever’s coming next is going to cement that revival by making clever use of new ideas grounded in the franchise’s familiar penchant for weaving in the unexpected into the very fabric of its games. There’s been no doubt in our minds that Silent Hill is back after our time with Hinako, and Simon has now made us confident that it’s here to stay for a while yet.

And we can’t help but feel a thrill even as we tremble at the thought of what horrors it’s going to bring our way when it does.

“The whole New Vegas thing did create this, at least the perception of this, ‘Who makes a better Fallout game?’ Oh, they should just give it to Obsidian’. There are the Obsidian, New Vegas people that think obviously New Vegas is way better, Obsidian is way better at making those games, and why don’t they just get Fallout altogether.”

Interestingly, franchise lead Todd Howard wanted to avoid comparisons like the ones between Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas with The Elder Scrolls franchise. Kuhlmann confirmed that, aside from The Elder Scrolls Online, Howard has continued to be protective of the fantasy franchise. As for whether the studio felt pressure to make a new entry while it was working on Starfield, Kuhlmann believes that the MMORPG “took the heat off” since it was at least “something with Elder Scrolls”.

“Todd, from my time there, he is very protective of it. I do think ESO took the heat off… There was a new Elder Scrolls product, and it was ongoing. It was creating new content constantly. There are a lot of people, I mean, I know the single-player people, I’m one of those people–but there are a lot of people to whom The Elder Scrolls is now ESO. That’s their experience with it. That’s what they love. That’s where they got their Elder Scrolls gaming experience, and that’s probably what they want more of.”

It is worth noting that the last mainline entry in the franchise was 2011’s The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which has seen several re-releases across various platforms in the 15 years since its original release. In the meantime, Bethesda has worked on Fallout 4, Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Starfield.

Bethesda is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6, and while the RPG still isn’t expected to be coming out any time soon, hype around it has already started to build up. Just last month, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma spoke about having played an early build of the title and said that “the scale and grandeur are incredible” and that “the story is even greater”. Along with this, Sharma also teased the official title of the game by calling it “The Elder Scrolls 6: ********”.

Sharma’s post kickstarted quite a bit of speculation among fans of The Elder Scrolls. Many also started looking at potential hints hidden throughout Starfield, such as the fact that the “Employee Number” for the protagonist in that game provides a hint that the word “Sentinel” might be important.

Currently, Bethesda hasn’t announced any release date for The Elder Scrolls 6, and rumors have indicated that it might still be at least two years away.

“I don’t want to tell tales out of school here, but I was told, and don’t make this a story because this could be nonsense […] The idea would be to do a third [Master Collection] with Revengeance and a cleaned-up version of 5, because that never got a fancy console version. I think it’s still good on PC.”

While Miller noted that it would be great if the “cleaned-up” version of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain also included all of the content that was notoriously cut out of the game before its release, he said that it is likelier to simply be a 60 FPS version of the game running on modern platforms. Interestingly, he also expressed interest in the inclusion of the much-maligned Metal Gear Survive in a potential third collection.

“The third one would be the last one they can do because they’ve done all the games and then they’ll see what they go forward with in terms of like the Delta remakes and stuff, but yeah, I think it’s nice that Metal Gear is in this place again.” He also raises the question of whether Konami would eventually make a Metal Gear Solid 6 at some point.

A third collection that includes Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance would be especially notable since console players can’t really access it aside from backwards compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S for its Xbox 360 version. PlayStation gamers, on the other hand, would need to get a PS3 to play it. When it comes to modern hardware, PC is essentially the only way to experience Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in all of its glory. There are also questions about the rights for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, since the title was developed entirely by PlatinumGames.

As for Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, a modern console version would likely be a welcome sight for many PS5 and Xbox Series X/S gamers since the original PS4 and Xbox One release has likely aged quite poorly due to it being more than a decade old at this point.

In the meantime, Metal Gear fans who never owned a PS3 can now finally play Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots thanks to the release of Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2. The title was originally released all the way back in 2008, and before last week, it was essentially stuck in limbo due to the difficulties of porting PS3 games to other platforms.

For more details about it, along with the remastered version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, check out our review of Master Collection Vol. 2.

Red Dead Redemption 2, meanwhile, has sold over 87 million units, up from 85 million. It became the third-best-selling title in the United States, and with this continued sales momentum, that gap may continue to widen over time. That is, unless Nintendo Switch Sports Resort can replicate the success of Wii Sports.

As for Grand Theft Auto 6, it launches on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Over a year after its second trailer, Rockstar Games will debut an extended look on August 27th. The catch is that it will premiere first on Netflix at 3 PM ET before becoming available on YouTube and the official site at 9 PM ET.

While we wait for everything it could showcase, you can check out our feature for all the latest revealed details, including pricing and what’s available in the Ultimate Edition. Pre-orders have reportedly been very strong, reaching $260 million in the first week.

As caught by social media user Anonimo, changes were discovered on the SteamDB page for Wolfenstein, despite the title having been delisted from Steam entirely. A host of updates have seemingly been made to the metadata for the title, with some even mentioning modern features like controller glyph displays and default graphical configurations. Interestingly, among the changes is the original listed release date of the game – August 18th, 2009. This could hint at an upcoming remastered release.

There have also been mentions of Steam Deck compatibility, which would indicate that Bethesda and Microsoft are looking at a wide release for the 2009 shooter.

While neither of the companies has made any announcements as of yet, QuakeCon 2026 is right around the corner, kicking off on August 6th and running until August 9th. Bethesda has maintained a tradition of remastering some of the older shooter franchises it owns so far, and this year, we could see Wolfenstein getting the treatment. We’ve previously seen this happen with Quake, Quake 2, Heretic, and Hexen.

2009’s Wolfenstein was developed by Raven Software – a studio that was previously known for its work on classic shooters like Hexen and Heretic, and more recently known as a support studio working on the Call of Duty franchise.

The title revolves around American superspy B.J. Blaskowicz on a mission to stop the Nazi forces from being able to harness the power of an ancient alternate dimension known only as the Black Sun. While the Nazis have been using the power from the dimension to create new super soldiers and other monsters, Blaskowicz is equipped with a magic amulet that allows him to pull off some fantastical moves, like slowing down time, for example.

Interestingly, the story was a follow-up to 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which laid many of the foundations of the Nazis and their obsession with occult artifacts leading up to the 2009 title.

Interestingly, while Wolfenstein: The New Order was a soft reboot for the franchise, developer MachineGames brought over some of the story elements from Wolfenstein to flesh out the world, including characters like Caroline Becker and Wilhelm Strasse. Many of the technological advances made by the Nazi forces in MachineGames’ series could also be attributed to their discovery and use of the Black Sun.

However, in terms of overarching continuity, the B.J. Blaskowicz of MachineGames’ titles is not the same as the one from the 2009 shooter, and the newer entries have also opted to take on a much more serious tone for their stories when compared to their predecessors.

During his tenure at Rockstar Games, Roberts had worked on the Midnight Club franchise as well as the multiplayer for the original Red Dead Redemption. As for what happened with Midnight Club, he confirmed that the studio ultimately canceled the project.

“When I [left], the core Midnight Club team continued to develop. I think they had even had some prototype cities; I kind of recall London was the one they were doing map development and stuff for. There was effort, and they were starting, and they were starting Midnight Club 5, or whatever they were going to call it, but it didn’t last, and it was canceled.” Roberts said that one of the core reasons behind the cancelation was a “non-trivial conflict” that arose between Rockstar’s New York Studio and the San Diego-based Midnight Club team. The same conflict also seemingly led to several missed milestones when 2008’s Midnight Club: Los Angeles was being developed.

The distance between both of the studios likely played a major role, especially in a time when online communication and collaboration tools weren’t as robust as they are in modern days. However, Roberts also believed that creative control may have played a major role, with the New York team noting that “you’re not GTA”, and making the Midnight Club team feel like they were working on “a red-headed stepchild project” that “never got the accolades or the reception.”

“I think that might have been the core of it, but it was also creative control,” he said. “The team in San Diego kind of…we felt, in any other studio environment, Midnight Club was a solid game.”

“The perception was we never got the accolades or the reception. The New York perspective was, ‘You’re not GTA’. When you’re the red-headed stepchild project—you know, we’re doing a good job, we’re world-class, but we’re still treated less than. It was challenging.”

The cancelation of the project would eventually lead to the entire team being dismissed. While Roberts himself was tasked with working on Rockstar’s in-house RAGE engine, many others were laid off. He said that the general feeling at the time was that “there would be no more Midnight Club and everything was going to be GTA and stuff moving forward, and that’s just the way it was going to be.”

The Midnight Club franchise started off on PS2 back in 2000 with Midnight Club: Street Racing. It would get a pair of sequels in a relatively short time frame – 2003’s Midnight Club 2 and 2005’s Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. The franchise would then jump into the next console generation with its final game – Midnight Club: Los Angeles, which got a Complete Edition release in 2009 on PS3 and Xbox 360.

This will be followed up with backwards compatibility on PC featuring support for games released on the original Xbox. These titles will seemingly be available to purchase through the Xbox app, and can also be played through Game Pass. The roadmap caps things off by listing its long-term plan for 2027 to 2028, which involves a gradual rollout of the Xbox 360 catalogue across “next-gen Xbox devices”. Interestingly, eXtas1s has noted that these new programs will be opt-in for publishers, and they can charge players for the disc-to-digital conversion if they desire.

“For both programs, Xbox manages all engineering, certification, and support efforts. You, the Publisher, keeps full control over rights, pricing, and brand; your only lift is opting in and setting commercial terms. Both programs reactivate dormant SKUs, unlock new audiences on PC and handheld, and create ready-made re-release opportunities – no porting efforts required,” reads the roadmap’s directive towards publishers.

It is worth noting, however, that the roadmap may have been hit with delays. July was meant to be the beginning of public beta testing of the disc-to-digital conversion program through Microsoft’s Insider program. However, this hasn’t yet happened, which might also mean that the release of the program for the general public – originally scheduled for August – might get delayed.

The fact that “next-gen Xbox devices” was mentioned lends strong credence to the idea that Xbox 360 titles might become playable on PC as well. Since Microsoft’s next-gen console, Project Helix, has essentially been described as being closer to a PC in terms of how open its systems will be, we might see the backwards compatibility features extend beyond just sticking to Xbox platforms.

A recent report indicated that Microsoft had planned to continue supporting physical discs for its consoles before the major Xbox reset from last month. According to Digital Foundry’s John Linneman, even Project Helix would have supported discs in some fashion – potentially through add-on disc drives. While Microsoft itself hasn’t made any statement regarding physical media in light of Sony’s announcement that it is ending PlayStation disc production in 2028, it is believed that the company wants users to potentially carry forward their older games onto newer hardware.

“One thing I’ve heard from a couple of sources, and this is just kind of like potential rumory stuff, but at least before the current Xbox reset – I don’t know where it is now – it sounds like Microsoft was actually very much going to continue disc support. Not because they valued retail disc sales, but because they wanted to ensure that all your Xbox games were still playable on new Xboxes.”

In the meantime, there have also been reports about Xbox potentially leaving Steam. However, at least for now, it looks like the company wants to hang on to the massive audience made available by Valve’s storefront.

Grand Theft Auto 5, in particular, according to Ricchio, was going to have “so much stuff that was done” that would never make it to the full release. “Like, minigames that were completely done and ready to go, except for animation, right?” The studio apparently decided to cut out these minigames because the animation team was “getting destroyed” from its work on other aspects of the game. After all, there was “so much animation work to do to bring everything to the same level..”

Ultimately, Ricchio said that “we had to cut stuff out that was otherwise completely done” due to the lack of time and approaching deadlines. He went on to discuss that these things tend to happen for larger projects. “They’ll throw out entire levels, and they’ll throw out entire things because they don’t have enough resources to get everything to the same level.”

Since Grand Theft Auto 5 never received single-player DLC, Ricchio noted that the cut content never made it to the public eye. Rather, “they just disappeared.”

Rockstar Games is hard at work on wrapping up the development of Grand Theft Auto 6 to ensure it launches on November 19th. Pre-orders having been kicked off last month would indicate that the studio is on schedule.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will take players to the state of Leonida, marking the franchise’s return to the Miami-inspired Vice City. Its story will focus on two protagonists – an ex-con named Lucia Caminos and a drug runner and racketeer named Jason Duval. The duo finds itself in a lot of trouble after a score goes horribly wrong. Thus, they end up in Vice City and are embroiled in its shadier side.

While no real details about the story have been revealed so far, Rockstar Games has confirmed that it will involve a grand criminal conspiracy spanning the entire state and that players will explore several locations outside of Vice City throughout the game.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently slated for release only on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and while the franchise has traditionally also come to PC some time after coming out on consoles, neither Rockstar nor parent company Take-Two Interactive has committed to a firm release date on the platform.

When asked about this, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that the studio wanted to focus on its console player base because “historically, Rockstar’s gone to console first.” This statement isn’t untrue, since even its most recent game – Red Dead Redemption 2 – came to PS4 and Xbox One in 2018 before eventually getting a PC release in 2019.