Today, Rockstar Games announced the acquisition of Sydney-based developer Video Games Deluxe. The studio was founded in 2013 by former Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara. Since its inception, Video Games Deluxe has collaborated with Rockstar on the re-release of L.A. Noire and the 2017 VR-only game L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files. More recently, the developer has worked on improving Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.
Rockstar Games Head of Publishing Jennifer Kolbe said in a statement:
After working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia.
Video Games Deluxe founder Brendan McNamara added:
It’s been an honor to work closely with Rockstar Games this past decade. We are thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games and to continue our efforts to make the best games possible.
The acquisition price remains undisclosed. In July 2020, the studio was recruiting for an open world VR game to be made for Rockstar. However, given the complete lack of growth for virtual reality gaming, it is highly unlikely that the project is still being worked on. It is far more conceivable that the former Video Games Deluxe will bolster Rockstar's output with the upcoming massively anticipated launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, planned for this Fall.
Meanwhile, Rockstar is about to launch the long-awaited free Grand Theft Auto V update that's set to introduce technical improvements like:
- NVIDIA DLSS 3
- AMD FSR1 and FSR 3
- Ray traced shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, and global illumination
- Faster loading times using SSD and DirectStorage on supported devices and configurations
- Enhanced support for higher resolutions, higher aspect ratios, and higher frame rates
- DualSense controller support, with adaptive triggers
- Enhanced audio with support for Dolby Atmos and improved fidelity of speech, cinematics, and music
The patch will drop tomorrow and can already be preloaded on PC.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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