GTA 6 publisher announces major acquisition ahead of game's release

Rockstar Games has just purchased a developer that I honestly assumed they already owned, ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto VI.

Video Games Deluxe has been purchased by Rockstar Games and renamed to Rockstar Australia, as revealed in a press release on Business Wire.

Video Games Deluxe is best known for its work on L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition.

The studio initially worked on the mobile ports of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, until later taking over from the original developers Grove Street Games for work on the updates for the console versions of the game.

The studio was founded by Brendan McNamara in the wake of Team Bondi’s closure, the developer behind the original release of L.A. Noire.

“It’s been an honour to work closely with Rockstar Games this past decade,” McNamara told Business Wire, “We are thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games and to continue our efforts to make the best games possible.”

GTA VI is in dire need of a second trailer.

Although the acquisition makes a lot of sense considering how closely Video Games Deluxe and Rockstar Games have worked together in the past, it’s tough to say exactly what Rockstar’s plans are for the developer.

Rockstar Australia is now the 11th “Rockstar” studio until the label, with most of the other 10 studios having shifted towards work on the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI sometime ago (although several developers at the publisher are still hard at work on updates for GTA Online and Red Dead Online).

Either way, it’ll likely be some time before we hear what Rockstar Games' plans are for their newly acquired studio, considering work on Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition has assumedly come to a close.

My theory though? They need more hands on deck to help out with the PC port of GTA VI.