Rockstar Adding 2 Classic Games to Subscription Service

A new interview with a former Rockstar employee sheds some new light on how the company’s workplace environment had grown toxic around the time they released Grand Theft Auto V.

According to new information from Grand Theft Auto 5 actors Steven Ogg and Ned Luke, GTA 5 was going to have a behind-the-scenes documentary, but it was ultimately scrapped by Rockstar Games. The actors behind Trevor and Michael, respectively, lamented that footage was filmed during the process of building GTA 5, but nothing was ever done with it.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

We have a strange story today about the longest running, and most successful, Grand Theft Auto game of all time.

Rockstar Games' flagship GTA Online-focused subscription service, GTA+, is receiving a price hike with no formal announcement. This news is likely to make fans of Grand Theft Auto Online who were already critical of the service even less pleased with it.

Following the recent price hike for EA Play, as well as price bumps for other video game subscription services over the last year, Rockstar's GTA+ is getting more expensive too.

Grand Theft Auto V has continued to bring in players regularly, allowing the game to live on for a long time. That might have played a big role in why it took so long before the staff started getting ready for its successor installment’s launch. But while the dough kept coming in for the online component of Grand Theft Auto V, it presented the idea of rolling out a subscription service with GTA+.

The demise of the "AA" tier of video games is not a new topic of discussion; it's something that has been pointed out and/or lamented for well over a decade at this point, with the Xbox 360 era often pointed to as being both the swansong and the beginning of the steep decline for lower budget, more quickly developed, and usually more rapidly discounted AA titles.

Beyond the Ice Palace 2 has been announced for a 2024 release. Beyond the Ice Palace was released on the Commodore 64 in 1988, two years after the original Castlevania game was released on the NES. Beyond the Ice Palace took inspiration from Castlevania and its sequel appears to continue to take inspiration from the Metroidvania genre that the game helped spawn. Beyond The Ice Palace 2 features combat and traversal reminiscent of popular Steam releases like Hollow Knight.

Electronic Arts just raised the price of its EA Play subscription service. The standard EA Play tier increased from $5 per month to $6 per month, while the annual fee rose to $40 from $30. These updated prices also impact premium EA Play Pro subscriptions, which allows access to the publisher’s games as soon as they launch. This tier now costs $17 per month, an increase from $15, and $120 each year, an increase from $100.

UK high street second-hand gaming and technology retailer CeX has launched a new repair service in partnership with the specialist gaming console repair company Tech Centre.

Amazon has announced the 12 games it'll be giving away to all Prime Gaming subscribers in April, with this month's offerings including Fallout 76 — whose arrival is perfectly timed to coincide with Amazon's new Fallout TV series.