GTA IV port/remaster reported for this year

If we’re in any age of gaming right now, we’re in the age of remasters/remakes. Almost everything from 80s and 90s classics to 2000s RPGs like Oblivion (which I’m getting the review out on soon) are being remade into ultra-sexy Unreal Engine 5 ports that work on modern hardware. In part to bleed more money from us all, but also to preserve the whole sub-10% of gaming history that we’re actively preserving. According to a Rockstar insider, we could be getting two remasters of the purveyors of automobile homicide.

As noted on the GTA Forums and reported on by Eurogamer, “known Rockstar insider” Tez2 has said that someone at Rockstar has “hinted” at a port of GTA IV. This would explain something that happened earlier this year when a mod team had decided to take down a preservation project.

Tez2 notes after being asked about a potential GTA IV release on PS5, either a port or remaster, “Someone at [Rockstar] hinted at the IV port, and by now it should’ve gone up a year in development. We may end up seeing it drop later this year. And it’s one more reason, in addition to existing reasons, the LCPP mod was taken down. If [Rockstar] still follows [its] plan laid out from the pandemic days, [Rockstar]’ll do an [Max Payne 3] port after IV. So that is an opportunity to do a bundle or a Definitive Edition. Max Payne 1 & 2 remakes, and a Max Payne 3 port.“

So what’s this “LCPP” then? Well, a small modding team was making something called the Liberty City Preservation Project, which was a mod that ran in GTA V but was in fact set in Liberty City, with full ray tracing and graphical enhancements. If it is a single-player mod, then what’s the problem? Well, back in January when the mod was removed, the dev team took to Discord to say, “Due to the unexpected attention that our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation Project.“

Soon after, the team took to Discord again to say, “We’ve noticed a lot of misconceptions and theories surrounding our latest announcement, and would like to make a few things clear. 1, this isn’t a DMCA, [but] rather a friendly takedown, mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. There is no negativity between us and Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive.” Then the announcement goes on to also discourage unofficial/third-party download links, or otherwise. Making it clear that this removal was all in good faith.

Some, such as Tez2, theorize or speculate that this could be to make way for a proper, official port with all these upgrades to hardware. Of course, that is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt in your right hand and throw it over your left shoulder. With the recent delay of GTA VI into next year, and (speculatively/tentatively) Oblivion Remastered giving Bethesda more time for The Elder Scrolls VI, a GTA IV Remaster could be a good thing for Rockstar right now.

Released in what is scarily becoming two decades ago, GTA IV has a lot of things that make it feel dated. I for one bemoan the poo-esque brown filter of the already depressing game, which was “fixed” with the DLC, “The Ballad of Gay Tony.” Either just doing a graphical upgrade with a remaster or putting GTA IV in the GTA V engine with those mechanical improvements, I’d be happy to see that come to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC sometime soon. The other tease of Max Payne 3 remastered, however, makes me as depressed as Max is in that third game.