Rockstar Dev Adds More Fuel To The GTA 6 Fire

Will the Grand Theft Auto series return to the mean streets of Vice City? That seems to be the direction hinted at by one of the designers who worked on the classic game.

As spotted by Dexerto, a few Instagram posts (which have since been removed) have given fans plenty of reasons to speculate on the future of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Stephen Bliss, a former senior artist at Rockstar Games, shared some images on his personal Instagram account that featured artwork reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. In fact, they're close enough to that game to have fans salivating.

The two pieces of artwork displayed portraits reminiscent of the series' iconic loading screens, with characters who didn't seem to be from any previous games in the series. However, their style of dress matched what you'd expect for the 1980s setting of Vice City. Bliss claims the first image is a self portrait, but that still leaves the mystery woman in the second image, who he depicted smoking a cigarette against an almost identical background.

Bliss maintains that the art posted is some of his personal work. This is certainly plausible, as Bliss often uses his social media accounts to promote his other projects, like a particularly stunning Nirvana portrait done in his distinctive style. Still, there are a few reasons you should not necessarily take his claims at face value.

As mentioned previously, the original posts have been taken down, which will likely do nothing to dissuade the more conspiracy-minded Grand Theft Auto fans out there. In fact, Bliss went on to share a few pages from a Loaded magazine article that featured his work, seemingly to take the place of the removed content. In this newer post, the hashtags are especially noteworthy. These include "#noideaaboutnewGTA" and "#justpostingimagesILike," both of which would imply that Bliss is trying to placate the fans who are currently wildly speculating.

He also added "#bestvideogamecompanyever," which certainly implies an ongoing friendly relationship with Rockstar Games. While this doesn't necessarily confirm a working arrangement, it's worth taking note of. Again, this could lead you to wonder if Rockstar had anything to do with the removal of the other posts. After all, if the company were considering a follow-up to Vice City, it makes sense for Rockstar to reach out to that game's senior artist. It also would stand to reason that Rockstar would want to keep any hints about the game under wraps until the time was right for an official announcement.

These Vice City rumblings add more fuel to a fire that Rockstar inadvertently started at the end of last year. Rockstar allegedly made merchandise featuring the Rockstar logo against Jamaican and Colombian flags. This led many to believe that they knew where Grand Theft Auto 6 would take place. Coupling this with the rumors of GTA 6's codename being "Project Americas," many fans have made the leap to thinking the next GTA game would take a deep dive into the drug trade. What better place to base such a game out of than the GTA universe's stand-in for 1980s era Miami?

Vice City remains one of the most well-loved entries in the Grand Theft Auto series. In a look back at its impact, Retronauts once called it "arguably Rockstar's most important game," as well as the installment that brought the series out of its humble beginnings and put it "right at gaming's forefront." Given that the title continues to receive praise and is considered such a watershed moment in the history of the industry, it's no surprise that people remain hungry for a proper continuation of Vice City.

As with all rumors, you should take this latest supposed hint with a grain of salt. However, Rockstar must have something up its sleeve for the next installment of the series. It would be absurd not to keep the ball rolling, considering Grand Theft Auto 5 continues to be one of the best-selling games of all time. You can only imagine how well a follow-up to the beloved Vice City would sell.

There are plenty of rumors surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6, so this might as well be added to the long list. Wouldn't it be great if all of them were true, though? Imagine playing as the series' first female lead protagonist in a story involving the high-stakes drug trade, all set in the seedy streets of Vice City. The very thought is enough to make even Grand Theft Auto 5's Trevor weep with joy.