An ex-Rockstar Games designer claims that the studio killed the Midnight Club franchise as it wasn’t as big as Grand Theft Auto.
In an interview with Insider Gaming, former Rockstar senior designer Kris Roberts was asked about Midnight Club’s fate, having worked on the franchise at Rockstar San Diego — the studio that helmed Rockstar’s arcade racing franchise and led development on the first Red Dead Redemption. Roberts noted that a fifth Midnight Club game was in early development following the release of Midnight Club: Los Angeles and the team had even prototyped new locations, including London.
Unfortunately, the plug was pulled on the racing game during its development phase. Roberts noted that there was a “non-trivial conflict” between Rockstar San Diego and the more central Rockstar New York. The designer noted that while there had been legitimate frustrations over missed deadlines on the previous Midnight Club game, Rockstar still hadn’t given the racing series its props as it wasn’t nearly as big as GTA.
“The perception was we never got the accolades or the reception,” Roberts explained. “The New York perspective was, ‘You’re not GTA’. When you’re the red-headed stepchild project — you know, we’re doing a good job, we’re world-class, but we’re still treated less than. It was challenging.”
Roberts also stated that Midnight Club kept players more engaged than competitors like Need for Speed and Burnout, but it wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, the cancelation of Midnight Club 5 signaled to a lot of people that the franchise was unlikely to return and as a result, remaining staff moved on to work on Red Dead Redemption or other projects within Rockstar.
“When they cancelled it, it was pretty clear that there would be no more Midnight Club and everything was going to be GTA and stuff moving forward, and that’s just the way it was going to be,” said Roberts.
One of the big complaints from fans is that Rockstar hasn’t diversified enough since Grand Theft Auto 5. A sequel to Red Dead Redemption made sense as the studio’s follow up, but it has now meant that Rockstar has been in a loop of GTA and Red Dead games for a decade and a half. Some fans fear this is the future of Rockstar and that we won’t get more unique, smaller-scale games like Bully, LA Noire, or Midnight Club anymore.
Rockstar will have the opportunity to do whatever it wants after GTA 6, given it will make unfathomable amounts of money. The studio is publishing a pair of Max Payne remakes, developed by Remedy, but it’s unclear when these will see the light of day. Whether or not Rockstar will revisit any of these dormant franchises itself or try something new after GTA 6 remains to be seen.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
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