A former game developer for Rockstar has broken down why the company often prioritises console release ahead of PC and why the latter is often given a port release years or months down the track.
Developer Rockstar Games took over the internet last week when they finally unveiled the first official trailer for GTA 6. The upcoming game, which has been in development for over a decade, has already broken records for how many viewers the new trailer garnered on YouTube.
After the trailer dropped, it was also confirmed that the game will be released on the Xbox Series S/X and the PlayStation 5. While this was no surprise for fans who saw the amazing footage from the trailer, many have been left wondering when and if the game will be ported over to PC.
Typically, Rockstar has always released their games on console first, with PC then added later on after the initial launch.
Game developer Mike York, who previously worked on GTA 5, broke down why Rockstar and other game devs focus on the console versions of games before then shifting over to the PC port after the initial launch of the game.
On his YouTube channel York Reacts, he revealed that, oftentimes, the PlayStation version of the game is what is focused on first, before then porting over to Xbox and then, months or years later, PC.
“One of the main reasons why a PC port will take so long to come out after the game launches is because the developers want to make it as best as possible. They have to work out all these little bugs that they haven’t been working on.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
York then added that “a PC port always comes later because they wanna prioritize what sells first”, before explaining why this is the case.
“Most of the time, especially in the past, PlayStation was the big seller…so what the developer would do is focus all their energy on making sure the PlayStation port and the PlayStation game works really well.
When I was working on GTA 5 for instance, we would concentrate on the PS3 and the Xbox at the time but we were mainly pushing the PS3 to the limits.”
Time will tell when Rockstar plans to roll out GTA 6 on PC. However, given their history of doing so, there is a strong chance it will eventually drop.
For all the latest GTA news and updates, be sure to check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.
