More than a year ago, we interviewed Yan2295, a former insider specializing in video games developed by Rockstar Games studios. We asked him about his personal story, his background as a player and his preferred style of play. Now, how about you ask him some questions about the future of the starred firm ?

• Since our first interview in February 2021, on the gaming side, have you had a crush or a great discovery ?

« I must admit that not so much. My interest in the new games seems a little less recently. In the last few months, most of my gaming time has been on GTA Online with a group of friends, we have an event every week to just hang out and have a good time. »

 

• Rockstar Mag’ will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year, do you remember how you discovered our community ?

« Ten years already ? Congratulations! It’s a bit funny actually because for the first few years of Rockstar Mag’s existence, I was on the team of GTANF, another Francophone network dedicated to GTA and Rockstar. Obviously these 2 sites could be seen as competitors, at least that’s how I saw it at the time and it’s because of that that I quickly heard about Rockstar Mag’. Ah the good old times ! »

 

• What did you think of Grand Theft Auto : The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition ?

« A beautiful opportunity completely missed. The project itself was a very good idea, but clearly the developers ran out of time and could not complete everything properly. We can see that they had to cut short on several things, including bug fixes. It’s a shame, frankly, but I can’t blame the developers for the lack of time they’ve suffered from. »

 

• We know that you play mainly on PC but did you test the «Expanded and Enhanced» version of GTA V on console released on March 15th ?

« Yes ! It was my 7th purchase of GTA V, for 2 simple reasons; GTA Online on PC is completely unusable, and the crew I play with is on PlayStation. Despite the expectations of many, I am personally happy that the consoles finally get to experience GTA V at 60 FPS. It would have been nice to have more content, but I’m still satisfied with what we got. »

 

• We’ve just learned that Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two, is coming back for another seven years. No surprise, but how do you see the future of Rockstar Games ?

« I don’t dare speculate too much about that. We can clearly see that Rockstar has changed in recent years, but I dare have the optimism to believe that they still have time to learn from their mistakes, or at least that’s what I wish. I like to keep in mind that despite the fact GTA Online has been their cash cow for so long now, they have managed to come up with something exceptional with RDR 2, a franchise that will never sell as much as GTA. It will have to be seen, I expect that we will continue to experience ups and downs with their various new products. »

 

• It has now been more than 2 years since Dan Houser left the vice presidency of Rockstar Games. On July 1st, 2021, we learned that he founded England-based “Absurd Ventures In Games LTD” which is for the development of ready-to-use interactive entertainment and leisure software. Do you think Dan Houser’s coming back with an independent video game studio ?

« Why not ! In the end, video games are a huge part of who he is, something that will probably never leave him. If he still has that desire to create and share something exceptional with the world, it would not be surprising to hear about him again, and personally I would be more than happy ! »

 

• What do you think about the current modding scene ?

« You could even say what’s left of the modding scene. It’s no longer what it used to be, that’s for sure, thanks to the actions of Take-Two to remove many mods that bothered absolutely no one. That will have discouraged a lot of people, including many who have been part of this community for a very long time. All of this is really a shame, modding has always been a very interesting facet of the community, there was so much effort and creativity. I can’t blame people for not wanting to invest so much time in projects that could end up being wiped out by Take-Two. »

 

• What do you think of creators who charge for their content ?

« It’s a touchy topic. On one hand, I understand that a lot of time and effort has been put into some projects, but on the other hand the modding has traditionally been a voluntary thing; by the community for the community. Ultimately, it is up to everyone to decide whether the content is worth its price. »

 

• What is your vision of the modding over the medium-long term ?

« Unless there is a major change in situation, I fear that we will see fewer and fewer important projects. However, I hope I am wrong ! »

 

• In your opinion, are the most ambitious projects in the modding community destined to be systematically sanctioned by Take-Two ?

« Not necessarily, but the risk is always present, even if these mods do not necessarily violate the rules put in place by Take-Two. We saw it well before the release of GTA: The Trilogy DE, some projects that were only vaguely related to this product and that did not violate the rules were removed. In the end, Take-Two do what they want and can be unpredictable. »

 

• It is no longer a secret, GTA VI will be the next game from Rockstar Games. Are you looking forward to seeing the first images and information or would you have preferred the announcement of a new license ?

« GTA will always remain what I look forward to the most, and I am obviously eager to know more, especially if we’re lucky enough to get a story mode comparable to RDR 2’s. A new license would of course have been welcome, but I think going with GTA VI now is the logical choice. »

 

• Which city would be ideal for GTA VI? And for what reasons ?

« Personally I would like something new, despite the fact that many fans want to return to Vice City. I think a new city inspired by Detroit and its surroundings could be very interesting given its history and some of its not very nice neighborhoods. But this is just one example, several other American cities could do very well ! »

 

• Do you have any special expectations about GTA VI ?

« I dare hope something of the level of RDR 2, as much for the story, the characters, the secondary quests as the level of details, the little things to find while exploring, the interaction with the NPCs. Give me something like that and I’ll be happy for years ! »

 

• Thank you Yan2295 for answering our questions again! Do you have a message for Rockstar Mag’ subscribers ?

« It’s always a pleasure to answer a few questions! I won’t write a whole paragraph on it, but the message I’d like to send is simply that we should all try to be a little more tolerant and less aggressive online. We see a lot of people who rush to attack others simply because they have a different opinion than theirs. Ultimately, you can simply decide not to respond instead of being aggressive. Let’s spread a little more positivity, you’ll see, it will be good for everyone ! »

Have a nice day on Rockstar Mag’ !