This Sydney-Based Studio May Have Saved the GTA Remastered Trilogy
Video Game Deluxe is composed of former Team Bondi developers, who previously worked on L.A. Noire, which was published by Rockstar Games.
Is Rockstar Games about to put up a studio in Sydney? Either way, they definitely do have a couple of familiar helping hands from the Land Down Under. Three years following Rockstar Games' release of Grand Theft Auto: The Definitive Edition on modern platforms, an update earlier this week breathed new life into the release, and it's no thanks to the previous developers, Grove Street Games.
Instead, the credit goes to Video Game Deluxe, a small studio based in Pyrmont, Sydney, composed of individuals who previously worked on L.A. Noire as Team Bondi and the criminally underrated L.A. Noire VR Case Files.
As confirmed on their Linkedin account, Video Game Deluxe was the studio that developed the mobile ports of the GTA remastered trilogy, available on Netflix, that were universally praised compared to the counterpart on other gaming platforms. A later post revealed that Video Game Deluxe is still working with Rockstar on unnamed projects.
Although unconfirmed, we wouldn't be surprised if the recent improvements to the GTA remastered trilogy on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC were thanks to the Sydney-based studio, at least in part.
Given the success of Video Game Deluxe's recent partnerships with Rockstar — L.A. Noire VR Case Files was positively received by fans until a DRM issue made the VR title unavailable to play — it's possible the studio could later grow into Rockstar Sydney.
For now, fans can express their gratitude to Video Game Deluxe for saving the botched release of the GTA remastered trilogy.
Rockstar Games is currently busy working on Grand Theft Auto 6, which is still set for late 2024. It's unclear if Rockstar plans to release other titles in the interim outside of Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded and Enhanced on PC sometime early next year. But we can certainly hope that Rockstar gives Grand Theft Auto 4 the same treatment, especially now that it has studios like Video Game Deluxe it can rely on.
