Feb 25, 2011

According to reports, Rockstar Games has recently registered new website domains that sound like they could belong to GTA 5's in-game Internet (assuming GTA V has an in-game Internet, as GTA IV did). The domains are: CashForDeadDreams.com, SixFigureTemps.com, StopPayingYourMortgage.net, HammersteinFaust.com, and LifeInvader.com. If they were indeed registered for GTA V's in-game Internet, then it suggests that the game is set in relatively modern times, since the World Wide Web only became popular in the mid-1990s. Some have speculated that CashForDeadDreams could be a parody of Cash4Gold (or Cash For Clunkers?), that HammersteinFaust is a parody of Goldman Sachs, and that LifeInvader is a parody of LifeLock, or even possibly Facebook.

Dec 17, 2010

Michael "Mystic Meg" Pachter, the infamous Wedbush Morgan analyst, today predicted what most of us predicted two years ago - that the next Grand Theft Auto (GTA 5) will arrive in late 2011 or early 2012. "We fully expect the next instalment of Grand Theft Auto to be released by Q4:12 at the latest, as the company's contracts with the three employees most instrumental in the game's development [Les Benzies, Sam and Dan Houser] expire in January 2012," said Pachter. In 2009, Pachter predicted that development of the game was likely to be concluded in 2010.

Nov 24, 2010

Mike Hickey, the games industry analyst who predicted a pre-E3 (2010) GTA 5 announcement, now believes that the next GTA game is unlikely to arrive before 2012.

Jul 27, 2010

A report on VG247 suggested that Grand Theft Auto 5 may be set in Los Angeles (or Los Santos, as it was known in GTA: San Andreas). Eurogamer followed this up with a report that an independent source told them that Rockstar is "definitely" researching locations around Hollywood "and the surrounding area." It's interesting to note that the source for the Eurogamer story is unrelated to the VG247 story. Rockstar provided no comment on the rumor.

Jun 17, 2010

An editor from technology site TheBitBag.com supposedly overheard a Rockstar Games tester discussing his work. After talking about how much time Red Dead Redemption was taking up, the tester mentioned the fact he was testing GTA V. The validity of the report is uncertain, however the suggestion that GTA V is in the testing stages is certainly plausible.

May 4, 2010

A 'leaked' pre-E3 games list circulated the web in May, a month before the expo was held in Los Angeles. The list stated that "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 2" was among those games set to be shown. However the list was untrue and Rockstar Games did not attend the expo, citing "time restrictions" for its decision.

Mar 5, 2010

Industry analyst Mike Hickey, of Janco Partners, predicted a pre-E3 GTA 5 announcement. "We believe there is building suspension for a pre-E3 announcement, although we expect nothing from Rockstar at this year's official E3 event," he said. His first prediction was wrong, while his second prediction was correct. There was no GTA 5 announcement and Rockstar Games did not attend the expo.

Nov 13, 2009

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser confirmed to The Times that a new Grand Theft Auto will be made. "We'll think of a city first, then the characters," said Houser. No specific details were confirmed.


Oct 29, 2009

During the end credits of The Ballad of Gay Tony, a scene shows Packie McReary arriving at Francis International Airport in a taxi. He gets out the taxi and walks to the terminal with a bag slung over his shoulder (CameraPackie McReary in The Ballad of Gay Tony credits). Could this be a suggestion that Packie will feature in the next game?

Oct 28, 2009

In The Ballad of Gay Tony, there's an ad on a billboard in Star Junction that seems to tease where the series is headed next (CameraLiberty City, It's Over! advert hints at GTA 5). The ad, which is replicated in the Episodes from Liberty City instruction manual, declares "Liberty City, It's Over!", to indicate that the GTA IV saga has ended. It then says "Next Stop," but the portion revealing the location has been torn away, exposing part of a previous advert. The ad is a parody of the 2009 film New York, I Love You (CameraNew York, I Love You movie advert) and there's been much debate over whether it's a genuine hint, or simply a joke. The advert underneath (which is partly exposed) can be found in several places across Liberty City, and many believe this is what holds the clue (CameraVesuvius Citrate advert in GTA IV).
The Title

The next GTA is likely to be called "Grand Theft Auto V" (or "Grand Theft Auto 5"). In the past, some titles have taken the form of Grand Theft Auto followed by the name of the setting (e.g. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) but this is because Vice City and San Andreas formed a trilogy with GTA III, and both were essentially expansions of the GTA III story. Former CEO of Rockstar Games Terry Donovan admitted that this was the plan from the start: "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," he told Game Informer.

There has been no indication that GTA IV will be the same, however. Rockstar's Dan Houser told the Official PlayStation Magazine in 2007 (about a year before GTA IV's release) that they'd yet to make up their minds, saying: "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."
Estimated Release Date

Rockstar North has been busy with several projects in 2010. They made a large contribution to Red Dead Redemption, and they're also currently working on a new PS3 title called Agent. Since Agent has been announced and GTA V has not, one would assume that Agent is Rockstar's priority. We should get a clearer idea of when to expect GTA V once the release date for Agent is announced. GTA V should be released no later than 2012.
Platforms

It is likely that GTA V will be developed and released simultaneously for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The PC version will arrive 7-8 months after the console release, as has been the case in the past.
Setting

The game could be set in a location that has featured previously in the series, or it could be set somewhere new. The only thing we know for sure is it won't be Liberty City. Most fans believe it will be Vice City, but might this be too obvious a prediction? After all, only 4% of our visitors correctly predicted that GTA IV would be set in Liberty City!

When asked if Rockstar had ever considered setting a GTA game outside the US, Dan Houser responded:

Yes we have, we just haven't ever made that maneuver. I would have a certain confidence of maybe doing it in England, but anywhere else I wouldn't really know what was going on. The guys who make that kind of stuff on the team may not necessarily know where to begin. I'm sure that there are lots of interesting things to talk about in Russia or China or Japan about that aspect of society [consumerism] but I wouldn't know what they were and so we feel it wouldn't necessarily be GTA.
Dan Houser in Official PlayStation Magazine Australia

I really want it to be set in Los Santos. I really loved it in GTA San Andreas, I prefer it to GTA IV

Grand Theft Auto: Chavs. Oh no wait, that sucks.

Seriously GTA in England would suck, that's my honest English opinion.

I dunno, I think one set in the UK would be quite funny