2025 is GTA 6’s year but Rockstar needs to focus on this franchise next

Grand Theft Auto 6 might be the biggest game on Rockstar’s radar right now, but once it’s all said and done, they need to revisit another classic franchise. 

The gaming world has been dominated by GTA 6 for years at this point. Rockstar Games’ trademark silence on things has, for some players, killed a little bit of hype. For others, they’re still on the edge of their seats, digging into every little supposed clue on social media or in GTA Online. 

For all the talk of a supposed delay, as we enter 2025, that hasn’t been confirmed yet. As of now, the year is set to be all about GTA 6 – and rightly so. 

Even though a follow-up to GTA Online will, of course, be on Rockstar’s mind and no doubt take plenty of their focus in the post-launch period, the gaming devs should revisit another of their franchises – and we’re not talking about Bully or Red Dead Redemption. 

Midnight Club’s return would be welcome

We are, of course, talking about Midnight Club. The series has not been revisited since 2009, when the ever-popular Midnight Club: LA complete edition was released for PS3 and Xbox 360. 

But, Rockstar Games and Take-Two are no slouchs. They’ll have seen how much the gaming world has fallen in love with Forza Horizon and how that has elevated racing games to a whole new level. 

It’s been a few years since they acknowledged the series, but Rockstar has kept the Midnight Club trademark going. They’re hardly going to let someone else steal it away, but why not use it? Why not give it a go?

The blueprint is in GTA Online

Given their track record in building phenomenal worlds across Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, harnessing the power of the new-gen consoles for a racing game could see them easily compete with Horizon. 

Sure, racing games are inherently single-player for the most part, but the popular Forza series has proven they can exist within the live service world. 

However, Rockstar hasn’t done too badly with GTA Online’s racing scene. They’ve given fans the tools to create some wild tracks while also mixing in Formula 1-style gameplay too.

It fits perfectly into the violence-filled sandbox, but leaves you wondering what else they could do if their full focus was purely on racing. 

And yes, Playground Games have more scope to do crossovers with entities like Lego that help that side of things, but Rockstar is Rockstar. 

They wouldn’t need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to make it popular,, and they wouldn’t have to go totally simulator-like to compete. Rockstar could very easily create their own land. And I really hope they do.