Rockstar Games confirms The Thing survival horror was being pitched by studio

Rockstar Games is one of the best renowned developers in the industry - and is responsible for the likes of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.

The studio is also known for other titles including Bully, Max Payne, The Warriors, Midnight Club, and L.A. Noire to name a few. Despite its rich back catalogue of absolute classics, it’s a studio that is not particularly known for horror. Well, perhaps at least in the traditional sense. Arguably, the closest form of horror that Rockstar Games has ventured into is the brutal stealth series, Manhunt.

Check out The Thing (2002) trailer below.

However, there was nearly a time in which Rockstar Games was close to developing a game inspired by the cult sci-fi horror movie The Thing. John Carpenter’s The Thing was originally released in 1982 and was inspired by the 1951 movie The Thing from Another World.

To say that The Thing (1982) is a beloved classic would be an understatement. Located in a remote research facility in Antarctica, an alien lifeform impersonates all those it comes in contact with and has one goal: to spread its virus. It’s a movie full of suspense, paranoia, gruesome gore and more. If you’ve never watched The Thing, it truly is a timeless classic and one that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

The Thing did receive a prequel movie in 2011 as well as a video game in 2002 which was offered as a sequel to the 1982 movie and while not perfect, the video game counterpart captured the tone of its source material wonderfully. Naturally, it’s been over 20 years since that video game and despite still being fun, it hasn't aged all that well.

Sadly, we very nearly got a newer game inspired by The Thing and could have been the game that fans of the series have been waiting for. Before now, it wasn't known that Rockstar Games was so close to developing The Thing, despite concept trailers being released back in 2015 by developer Paul Large on YouTube. Concept videos were powered by Unreal Engine 4 as well as CryEngine3. What’s more, Twitter user SWEGTA shared some awesome concept images of the game that never came to be.

The Thing would have been developed by Rockstar Games subsidiary Rockstar Dundee, commonly known for the last two Crackdown entries. As reported by SyFy, Cumron “Ron” Ashitanti, who was a lead artist on the 2002 game had apparently been working with Rockstar Dundee, then known as Ruffian Games on a new game inspired by The Thing. Unfortunately, the project never materialised due to rights issues related to the IP.

“With The Thing being quite an old movie now, I think that the IP has moved around in ownership between a few different companies,” Ashitanti claimed. “Who owns the rights to the films and the games and all this stuff has got quite muddled over the years. So I think that's been a bit of a challenge to get the IP rights to do another game.”

Whether this project will ever be revived, remains to be seen. If not, it will offer a painful reminder of what could have been.