Rockstar says a sci-fi Grand Theft Auto game is 'tempting'

The vice president of Rockstar Games has touched on the possibility taking the Grand Theft Auto series into a sci-fi setting.

Chatting with Ecrans, Dan Houser said that while a futuristic GTA is a “tempting” prospect, the company doesn’t feel it can justify moving into such a territory just yet.

"We will do it the very second we have an idea," said Houser, when quizzed if the multi-million selling crime series would eventually make the jump.

"One of our strengths is the consistency of the game world. We're not necessarily the best writers in the world, but we [know] how to write a video game.”

"When we decided to make a Western, it was because we knew we had something to say," he continued. "We have no interest in going into science fiction for the sake of flying cars and laser guns. The best science fiction stories are those that speak about the human condition.”

"So while this idea is very tempting and, by definition, anything's possible in a videogame, we lack the essential thing for the moment: a good reason."

Moving to a sci-fi setting would not only allow Rockstar to play around with a whole new bunch of ideas, but more importantly, it would also give the franchise a shot in the arm – not that Houser feels this is needed at present, though.

"I'm not worrying about this for a good while yet," he revealed. "In the past some of our titles have been successful, others less so, but as long as we have the ambition of making the kinds of games that nobody's ever made before, we're not going to get bored.”

"To offer an analogy with cinema, some films can be told in one page of text. Once the basic situation is there, you know exactly how it will evolve. But if you're careful to change the narrative structure, it can change everything. Chris Nolan's Memento is a good example. That's the kind of approach we've achieved."

The next entry in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto V, is due out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in spring 2013. The game introduces three playable protagonists with interweaving storylines, and takes place in Los Santos.

Stay tuned for more details on the game as we get them.

via OXM