According to a report from Kotaku, three of the Grand Theft Auto franchise’s oldest and most revered titles are being remastered. The report, which cites unnamed insider sources at developer Rockstar, claims that Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas are all being remastered.
These remasters won’t be simple ports, either, according to the report. Instead of simply upscaling each game to HD resolution, Rockstar is remastering each using the Unreal Engine, mixing “new and old graphics” from each game. The report also claims that Rockstar has plans to release three remastered titles this fall, but whether or not they are the three previously-mentioned GTA titles have not been confirmed. Regardless, each remastered Grand Theft Auto title, whenever released, will be available on not just the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S but also on the Switch.
Kotaku’s report goes on to say that Rockstar Dundee, the publisher’s most recent acquisition, is the main studio behind these remasters. Before joining Rockstar, Dundee was known as Ruffian Games, the studio that developed Crackdown 2 and Crackdown 3.
Apparently, remasters of these classic GTA titles have even affected other Rockstar titles. One source in Kotaku’s report claimed that the shift in priority to completing the remasters has resulted in Red Dead Online‘s own lack of meaningful content updates. That detail certainly tracks, as the multiplayer western title’s largest update, Blood Money, was added to the game just last month. Prior to Blood Money‘s release, Red Dead Online‘s content updates have been sporadic and anemic.
