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Rockstar Game's history with mobile games is an interesting one, but it's also one that's never met the success of its console and PC counterparts.
For all intents and purposes, this article will go over the mobile games currently found on Rockstar's Google Play and App Store.
Likewise, it will also briefly cover games made for mobile platforms, like GTA Chinatown Wars and GTA Advance, as some of the data associated with those games are relevant to an extent.
As it stands right now, Rockstar hasn't announced anything related to the ever-growing mobile market. No new games or projects have been announced for mobile devices, which makes sense given the context of their history with mobile games.
It makes more sense for Rockstar to focus on what's proven to be successful than chasing a market that hasn't worked as well for them in the past.
Why Rockstar doesn't do more mobile games
Many video game companies operate differently in their day-to-day operations. In Rockstar's case, they tend to focus on next-gen consoles and PC, as that's been proven to work wonderfully for them.
By comparison, their mobile games, while still successful, haven't reached the same measure of success as their console and PC counterparts.
Rockstar's recent successes
The most relevant Rockstar titles are GTA 5 and GTA Online, and nothing comes close to that. These juggernauts are massively successful, with a game like GTA 5 selling well over 140 million copies. Add in Shark Cards for GTA Online, and it's easy to see how Rockstar has made a ludicrous profit thus far.
The problem with these two games and mobile games is that Rockstar cannot simply port the two to a phone and call it a day. It would require significant downscaling, which would require an extensive amount of time and effort to do so.
Rockstar isn't a video game company that's known for its mobile games. While it does have several subsidiary studios that have worked on a few mobile games, none of those titles ever matched up to GTA 5 in terms of success.
The time and effort part is relevant because Rockstar doesn't have infinite resources to work on every single project at once. A game like GTA 6 will inevitably take up many of its resources, as will maintaining GTA Online and Red Dead Online to a lesser extent.
Rockstar's past efforts on creating a mobile game
If Rockstar can't logically port GTA 5 and GTA Online to Android and iOS devices, then the company has two other things it can do. First, it can port other games. Second, it can create a brand new title.
The latter point is interesting, but Rockstar isn't known for creating new mobile games. The closest example can be found in games for handheld consoles like GTA Advance and GTA Chinatown Wars, which didn't sell as well as other Grand Theft Auto titles. The former even had mediocre reviews, which doesn't look good when compared to other GTA games.
Even if a game like GTA Chinatown Wars was well-liked, it still sold poorly. At the end of the day, most businesses seek to make a good profit.
Porting over GTA 5 repeatedly makes them more money than taking risks like creating a mobile game, especially since their track record isn't excellent.
Rockstar's current mobile game lineup
Rockstar has never made a specific GTA game for Android and iOS devices. It has ported older GTA titles, such as:
- GTA 3
- GTA Vice City
- GTA San Andreas
- GTA Liberty City Stories
- GTA Chinatown Wars
As seen, there are some GTA titles not yet ported to mobiles. While porting more titles could eventually make a profit for Rockstar, the simple matter of the fact is that there are better investments to be made.
Based on the number of reviews found on Rockstar's mobile stores, it seems as though a good amount of people have bought the game (as not everybody who buys the game will rate it). That said, these games are cheap, so it's less impressive than what fans might think.
Current business
Right now, the most successful mobile games all have microtransactions. As a result, no GTA port will ever match up to those kinds of games in terms of sheer success.
Rockstar could add MTX to old games, but that would change how those games are played, making the option to create a new GTA game a more appealing choice.
The publisher is doing good with its current business model, so there's no need to take any unnecessary risk for the sake of doing so. A mobile GTA game could make a serious profit for Rockstar, but it has limited experience in that market and better alternatives elsewhere.
Note: This article reflects the author's views.
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