GTA V Is Better Because of Late Console Cycle Launch

Dan Houser, one of the co-founders of Rockstar, says that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V will benefit from the fact that it is being launched during the final months of the current generation of home consoles, because the team can extract all the performance from the various devices.

He tells Japanese magazine Famitsu, as quoted by Polygon, that, “Rockstar is a content company, not a hardware company. We use the technology we have to create content, and we try not to let ourselves get beholden to the hardware. The fact that hardware’s so mature right now is exactly why we’re able to go on to the next level.”

Houser adds, “GTA 4 was our first attempt at a new platform and HD visuals, so the first part of development was seriously difficult. Now we know what the hardware’s capable of, so it’s become a lot easier to move things along and a lot more fun, too.”

The developer goes on to talk about GTA: San Andreas and the fact that it was launched close to the end of the PlayStation 2 life cycle.

San Andreas was highly praised on launch and Houser believes that the familiarity with the platform was one of the main reasons for the delivered quality and the long-term success of the game.

The new GTA title takes the player to Los Santos, a virtual recreation of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas, and will star three main characters in an open world that Rockstar promises will revolutionize the genre.

GTA V is at the moment set to arrive on the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft at some point during the spring of 2013.

Rockstar has not announced any plans to deliver the game on the PC or on the new Wii U from Nintendo.