slated for release later this year.

Rockstar announced the acquisition in a press release posted by Business Wire this morning. In the release, Rockstar Games' Head of Publishing Jennifer Kolbe expressed her enthusiasm for the new partnership, stating,

“After working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe the team as Rockstar Australia.”

Similarly, Video Games Deluxe founder Brendan McNamara shared his excitement, stating that the studio is “thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games.” McNamara is no stranger to Rockstar Games, having previously worked on the original L.A. Noire through Team Bondi. However, that collaboration faced challenges and led to Rockstar and Bondi parting ways.

Video Games Deluxe Has Been Acquired By Rockstar Games

Who Is Video Games Deluxe?

Video Games Deluxe was founded by Brendan McNamara, the former lead of Team Bondi, the studio behind the original L.A. Noire, which was published by Rockstar Games. However, leading up to the game’s 2011 release, several reports emerged about poor working conditions at Team Bondi. This included programmers doing four people’s jobs and over 100 contributors left out of the game’s final credits. This led to Rockstar Games parting ways with Team Bondi.

After L.A. Noire’s release, Team Bondi shut down, and McNamara went on to create Video Games Deluxe in 2013. Soon after, both Video Games Deluxe and McNamara resumed working with Rockstar. They first collaborated on L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files and later ton he enhancement of the GTA Trilogy in 2021. It was the work on the GTA Trilogy that solidified the partnership between the two and likely led to the acquisition.

What We Know About Grand Theft Auto 6 So Far

Gearing Up For GTA 6

While it’s unclear exactly what projects Video Games Deluxe, now Rockstar Australia, will be working on, one obvious possibility stands out. Rockstar is preparing for the release of GTA 6 sometime this year, and given Video Games Deluxe's valuable contributions to the GTA series, it’s likely that they will play a key role in the development of the game.

After all, GTA 6 is shaping up to be a massive undertaking for the studio, and the studio could use all the help it can get to get this launch right. Rumors are swirling about what GTA 6 will look like when it launches. While we know the game will take place in Vice City and will launch for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S this Autumn, there is no word on a PC release. Surely, as the date draws near, more news will be revealed.

Source: Business Wire