The online-portfolio blunders of former employees is always a particularly bothersome way of the lid being blown off a tightly kept secret. With significant buzz surrounding Rockstar Games following the announcement that their parent company, Take-Two Interactive, will have a significant presence at this year's E3 convention and the press conference where the company's president stated that they hold too many IPs, the hype around a new Rockstar game is high enough as is.
Of course the speculation has run rampant with E3 steadily approaching, with Red Dead Redemption 2, Agent and a new Midnight Club game leading the fan wishlists. While any info regarding a major GTA V DLC or even official word on the next game in the franchise is extremely anticipated, players are clearly starved for a Rockstar game from another IP.
The recent renewing of the Agent trademark coupled with the images made public by a former developer on the project indicate that it may very well be still alive. With rumors of Sony working on a new version of the PS4 with different hardware specs, it's possible that Agent will be a launch title on this PS4 2.0 as the game was always intended to be a Sony launch exclusive.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is possibly the most hoped-for of all the possibilities as fans have been anticipating a sequel ever since the first one dropped way back in 2010. A PC port of the game remains to be one of the most requested releases all across the gaming community.
The possibility of the next project being a new IP is also on the table, however considering the recent statement about Take-Two already having more than it can handle, this is unlikely. Now, with all the anticipation, a recent misstep by a former Rockstar employee may have inadvertently answered everyone's question.
Former Senior 3D Artist Ruben Tavares recently updated his LinkedIn portfolio to show the work he had done during his time at Rockstar. The list included three titles, including GTA V and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, however the last was the most interesting. The massively successful blockbuster and older racing game were joined by the entry "Red Dead Redemption 2".
Once this was found, the press was lit on fire by the "leak" which seemingly confirmed that not only is Rockstar working on a new game, but one which has been hotly requested by fans for ages. Obviously the amount of dust that this kicked up soon got back to Tavares — and Rockstar.
Soon after the new made the rounds in the web, the profile was updated, removing the "2" from behind Red Dead Redemption. Tavares also updated his profile which seemingly explained the blunder. His bio contained a line speaking of how he was praised by his superiors over the years, which he updated with a small comment in parenthesis.
[...] during these years I received many good reviews from supervisors (NOT for spelling XD)
Nice try, but adding a space and number after a name isn't exactly a spelling mistake. It's not the kind of thing you'd do accidentally either.
Rockstar deciding to work on Red Dead Redemption 2 would make sense from a number of perspectives.
RDR had great reviews and sales back when it was first released with fans instantly starving for a sequel. This has set up the market ensuring a successful launch regardless of actual marketing efforts.
Then there's the fact that RDR launched over 5 years ago. We know Rockstar doesn't rush its games and if it's only an initial announcement that we get at E3, chances are the release date is 2-3 years away, giving the developer plenty of time to polish the game to perfection.
This would be a massive source of revenue for Rockstar — especially if they add a GTA Online-eqsue multiplayer mode for the next Red Dead game. Since RDR was basically Grand Theft Horse anyway, giving players a massive wild west map to gallivant around with their fellow outlaws and gunslingers would garner massive success.
Hell, applying all that Rockstar has learned from three years of GTA Online could result in the smoothest and most polished multiplayer experience in the industry. GTA Online has advanced significantly since it was first launched, but some issues from the early builds are cemented in the game's foundation — like the p2p server structure.
Given adequate funding — which we know Rockstar has — and a clean slate to work with, the developers could take all the good from GTA Online (which is a lot), give it a Red Dead coat of paint while tossing out anything that doesn't work and building something that does.
Rockstar has the key to massive success right in front of them — we shall see whether or not they grab on to it.
Are you guys hoping for a new Red Dead game, or would you prefer another Rockstar franchise to return?
