GRAND Theft Auto 5 is being remastered for release on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X – and it won’t be a “simple port”.
That’s according to Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Rockstar parent company Take Two Interactive, who discussed the US firm’s upcoming remasters during a virtual conference this week.
The GTA 5 remake was announced last summer with the promise of boosted graphics and improved performance.
It’ll be the third iteration of the game after it launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2013 and was later remastered for the Xbox One and PS4.
Discussing Take Two’s approach to remasters, Zelnick said the company has thrived because it doesn’t simply port older games to new systems.
“Remastering has always been a part of the strategy,” Zelnik said during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
“We’ve done differently than the competition – we don’t just port titles over, we actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release, for the new technology that we’re launching it on.”
“So, we improve the technology, we upgrade the visuals, and we make performance enhancements,” Zelnik continued.
“And that’s why I think our remastered titles typically do so well.”
GTA 5 first launched seven years ago, but the Rockstar Games title is still wildly popular, with more than 100,00 regular players.
That streak of success promises to continue on next-gen consoles with the release of an amped-up remaster.
It scheduled for release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC in the second half of this year.
“We’ve done great with the Mafia series, for example, and Grand Theft Auto [V] is now heading into its third generation which is incredible”, Zelnik said of the upcoming GTA 5 remaster.
“It was a standard-bearer when it was launched, it continued to be the standard-bearer in the second generation, we’ll see how Grand Theft Auto does in the next generation.
“Obviously, I’m confident that Rockstar is going to deliver just a great experience, but you can’t do that if you’re just doing a simple port.”
Rockstar has previously talked up plans to eventually “expand and enhance” GTA 5 for the PS5.
It would be an impressive feat, given that the game originally launched way back on the PS3.
