Red Dead Redemption sold over 13 million units worldwide, concreting its status as mainstay for the publisher.

And speaking recently about the balance of launching new franchises and turning to trusted sellers for the firm, Zelnick said: “”I pretty much know the ones that I can assure you are permanent. It’s obvious that GTA is a permanent franchise as long as we keep delivering this incredible quality; it seems quite obvious that Red Dead is a permanent franchise, again with the same caveat, or Borderlands, for example, and NBA and others.”

He went on: “But not everything is going to be a permanent franchise. We can do very well even if it’s not. I would like to see us grow with a couple more great franchises in the next couple years and we’re launching Evolve; we have very high hopes for that.”

Rockstar, in January 2013, seemingly confirmed that a sequel was incoming. So the question’s not if, but when, right? E3 2014, then? That’s just one week and a few days away!

Lindsay Lohan apparently wants to sue Rockstar for using her image in Grand Theft Auto V without permission. But although a likeness is indeed there, the honor’s already gone to model Shelby Welinder.

Ms. Lohan probably just needs the money, because she certainly could do without the attention. Also, we must point out that she hasn’t actually filed anything, she only called up her lawyers to presumably ask questions.

Via TMZ.

It’ll be release on iOS and Android devices, as well as Amazon Kindle and Windows Mobile devices.

Press release:

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Mobile Coming this December

Before GTAV took us to the sun-bleached sidewalks and humming concrete freeways of present-day Los Santos and beyond, there was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the biggest GTA of the PS2 era. Now, head back to the early 90s with CJ and the Grove Street Families when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas comes to mobile devices next month.

Encompassing Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas and everything in between, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been upgraded for its mobile release. Newly remastered graphics including dynamic and detailed shadows, greater draw distance, an enriched color palette, plus enhanced character and car models make this the best-looking version of San Andreas yet.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also features brand new touch controls including contextual control options to display buttons only when you need them and three different control schemes for driving and maneuvering, as well as a reworked checkpoint system for easier progression. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for mobile also comes equipped with full controller support, including Made for iOS controller capability on iOS7. It will be available for select iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle and Windows Mobile devices. Stay tuned for more details in the weeks ahead.

Via Rockstar.

The Beach Bum content will  include two new weapons, a quartet of rugged and fun new vehicles for land and sea, lots of new action-packed Jobs, plus a wide variety of suitably rad new apparel, hairstyle and tattoo customization options.

New Jobs
These include new beach-themed Races, Deathmatches, Parachutes, Last Team Standings, Survivals as well as Gang Attacks.
Rockstar reveals 5 of their favorite new ones:

• “Grass Route II” (Race): In this sequel to the original popular Grass Route Race, go off-road in an epic heat starting on the North bank of the Zancudo River through the treacherous wetlands with a triumphant finish on the beach in North Chumash.
• “Survival on Del Perro Pier” (Survival): Skip the ferris wheel for a deadlier kind of thrill ride as you take on waves of relentless enemies at this beachfront attraction.
• “View of Vespucci” (Parachuting): This leap sends you from 2,980 feet, down towards Vespucci Beach, weaving through palm trees to land on the basketball courts of the rec center. If you’ve got skills, it’s possible to freefall through the first few checkpoints before even opening your chute.
• “Paleto Beach” (Team Deathmatch): The locals complain that not a lot happens in this sleepy town, so do them a favor and wake ‘em up with a barrage of gunfire exchanged between you and a rival team. This Team Deathmatch takes place right on the romantic shoreline for 4-8 players.
• “Sundae Driving” (Bike Race): Sure to be a new fan-favorite motorbike race, menace Vespucci Beach on your two-wheel rocket, taking breakneck corners as you try and best the competition.

New Vehicles
The BF Bifta dune buggy, the rugged Canis Kalahari off-road truck, the Bravado Paradise beach camper van and making a special return to the GTA series, the fast and stylish Speeder speedboat. All four vehicles will be available at no in-game cost, with the land-based vehicles accessible from the southernsanandreassuperautos.com website and the Speeder available via docktease.com on your in-game phone (call Pegasus for delivery). These vehicles are also available in Story Mode for Michael, Trevor and Franklin to enjoy – to access them, visit your garage property and the Marina property for the vehicles and the boat respectively.

New Weapons
The compact yet deadly SNS Pistol and the brutal new Broken Bottle melee weapon. Each weapon will be available gratis from any Ammu-Nation location in GTA Online and will be added straight into each of the three characters’ inventory in Story Mode.

New Customization Options
You’ll be able to deck out your GTA Online character with all new beach-ready customization options including stylish board shorts, neon surfer attire, wild tribal tattoos and more.

Rockstar: This is just the first of many new content updates we’re working on for Grand Theft Auto Online in the weeks and months ahead.

Grand Theft Auto V doesn’t just shoot records down; it does so with a nuclear rocket launcher and then spits on their bodies.

Rockstar parent company Take-Two revealed today that the latest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series sold 29 million copies. In six weeks. Twenty nine million.

There’s really not much more to say, at this point it might even be the most successful game ever on all fronts.

GTA V “has already overtaken sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in just four weeks, and is now snapping at the heels of FIFA 13,” MCV reports.

It’s also on track to become the biggest-selling title in the UK of all-time, “a feat it should achieve comfortably”, the magazine continued.

The game became the fastest-selling title of all time in UK when it launched, has broken several records, and has one of the most viewed trailers for an action-adventure game online.

Rockstar confirmed that GTA Online character and progress lost due to the game’s problems can’t be recovered.A comment on the latest update reveals the news.

“Hi everyone, For those that are still having any technical issues, as mentioned above there is a title update coming next week that will include more fixes including the vehicle loss one – and we will remain committed to continuing to fine-tune the game to address any and all issues to get GTA Online running as smooth as possible.”

Please remember to visit the Rockstar Support site at http://support.rockstargames.com for the latest info or to report your problem if you don’t see it there.

For those asking about their lost characters or rank, those will not be able to be restored so we sincerely hope that this cash stimulus we’re giving out this month will help you get back on your feet or to make your new life in Los Santos & Blaine extra sweet.”

A new update for the game, expected this week, will allow Rockstar to gift everyone $500,000 in compensation, given in two equal parts of $250,000.

“For those asking about other forthcoming GTA Online content such as Heists, those are indeed in the works and we hope to provide an update with release timing soon.”

Are you one of the unfortunate players that got hit hard by GTA Online’s issues?

Grand Theft Auto V will come to PC’s in Q1 2014, as multiple sources say to Eurogamer.

It’s entirely possible, since GTA IV launched on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 29, while its PC launch was in December of the same year.

Earlier this week, an Intel exec said that “someone” paid for GTA V’s console exclusivity but will come to PC’s. Could he have a point, and will the PC version be released just a few months after its console counterpart? We can only wait and see.

Ever since GTA Online launched on October 1st, people have been having problems with it. Be it losing their progress or being stuck in infinite loading, the game is far from playable for lots of players. Rockstar, however, released a new patch that is up today.

“Please always remember to save your game before leaving GTA Online, otherwise you may lose any progress since your last save – this can be done by exiting back to Single Player through the pause menu.”

“Until downloading the title update above and in order to minimize the chances of any further data loss, if at any point you receive the message ‘Rockstar Cloud Servers are unavailable’, please do not either select the ‘Retry’ option or create a temporary Character to play GTA Online. Instead, you should exit to GTA 5 Story Mode and try entering GTA Online again through the menu in Story Mode.”

The update is there for PlayStation 3, and should be for Xbox 360 as well by now. Rockstar Newswire lists some fixes, while a full list isn’t released yet:

• Fixes multiple issues causing character deletion or other loss of progress
• Fixes issues causing infinite loading, infinite sky cams, and missing interface options between jobs
• Fixes an issue causing the “replay” option to be locked out on certain jobs
• Fixes an issue where a player would become stuck in the mod garage when respraying a Sanchez motor bike
• Fixes an issue where the Player became stuck inside Los Santos Customs during Online tutorial flow.
• Fixes an issue causing the loss of guns and ammo
• Fixes issues causing GTA races ending early because of players spawning too far ahead
• Fixes issues in Last Team Standing where sessions would not progress past the lobby
• Fixes issues with network errors when joining Last Team Standing using Quick Job
• Added clarifications around when a player is using a temporary character in GTA Online during Rockstar Cloud server outages
• Adjusts the monetary penalty for being killed in a One on One match

Have you played it, or are you affected by any of these issues?

Intel marketing director Chris R. Silva, speaking to PCGamer, said that “somebody paid a lot of money to make sure that title was exclusive”.

“At least with Grand Theft Auto I don’t think it’ll be console exclusive very long. But that’s what happens when you have a brand new launch with two companies that have lots of money trying to make sure they have content”.

He also went on to say that Halo’s console exclusivity before the PC port hurt the franchise, and was a mistake.

“If you look at the amount of revenue that is generated by PC gaming it’s in the tens of billions of dollars each year. It’s incredibly diverse and rich and that’s it’s greatest strength”.

What do you think of the accusations? Is there a dark plot going on beyond the public eye? Is Cthulhu walking on Earth?

Thanks, games.on.net!

For PS3:

• For PlayStation 3 users, a PlayStation Network server issue was detected that was limiting the amount of possible concurrent users. This was preventing most players from accessing GTA Online altogether and as of this morning, that problem was resolved.
• There is an issue that is preventing some players from getting through the first tutorial mission across both platforms. Many players have been able to get through this with repeated retries, and we are working on unblocking this for everyone as soon as possible.
• This morning, we experienced some instability across the GTA Online services which is affecting even people who have progressed beyond the tutorial mission. We are identifying these issues now and are working to restore stability for users as soon as possible.
• For the time being and until we have been able to get everybody access to GTA Online and things are running smoothly, we have disabled the option of purchasable GTA$ cash packs. Players can however keep on earning GTA$ by pulling off Jobs and other profitable gameplay activities rather than purchasing cash packs.

Rockstar promises to send live an Xbox 360 update soon.

Rockstar posted a list of known issues on their newswire, and it is:

• Occasional “Rockstar Cloud Servers Unavailable” error message
• Freezing sometimes while loading into first race in GTAO with “waiting for other players” on the screen
• Intermittent “Failed to Host a GTA Online Session” error messages
• Race Corona (start area, marker) occasionally not showing up for first race
• Errors saying “Timed out when matchmaking for a compatible GTA Online Session to join”
• Occasional errors about jobs failing to start or load
• General issues with the Social Club site and Social Club features
• Misc. network and server-related error messages, disconnections, or cloud server errors
• Errors saying “Mission Failed” as soon as the mission begins during a session

A title update fixed some issues. Are you affected? I know I can’t play GTA V anymore, because my console locks up after I give the green light for the update to happen.

Rockstar confirmed that the much anticipated online part of Grand Theft Auto V, GTA Online, is due out at 7am ET in the US, and around 12pm BST in the UK. Rockstar also said that the “exact time GTA Online will be available is contingent on both title updates becoming available on each console’s network.” Which basically means, don’t freak out if you get it a bit later.

Lastly, tons of new information on GTA Online’s structure have been posted on Rockstar’s newswire. Details like “Jobs”, the fact that it’s set before GTA V, the real money transactions and many more.

Are you playing GTA Online today?

Access to GTA Online

Access to Grand Theft Auto Online is free with your copy of Grand Theft Auto V. On October 1st there will be a small downloadable Title Update released on PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE. Upon installation of that Title Update, direct access to begin GTA Online will be unlocked in your GTAV game menu. You will be able to jump right into GTA Online via the 4th (bottom) slot in your GTAV character wheel. We’ve received many questions asking for a specific confirmation of what exact time GTA Online will be available but of course this is contingent on both Title Updates becoming available on each console’s network. As a general timeframe, we do expect the Title Update to become available on PSN and Xbox Live starting around 7AM ET tomorrow morning, and your best bet is to stay tuned throughout the day here at the Rockstar Newswire and by following us on Twitter and Facebook where we will be keeping everyone updated.

When does GTA Online Take Place?

Some people who’ve been playing through Grand Theft Auto V’s Story Mode have been inquiring how the narrative of GTA Online correlates or crosses over. Grand Theft Auto Online is set a few months prior to the events of Grand Theft Auto V’s single player story.

Home and Garage Security

There’s plenty of havoc and treachery you can cause out in the open world of course, but in order to prevent some really annoying “griefing”, we’ve designed house party invitations specifically to be a friendly social affair where players can visit each other’s pads without fear of having them ruined or losing their hard-earned vehicles in the process. If someone invites you into their property, then it is considered a friendly visit and you will not be able to shoot up their place or steal their cars from their garage. By the way, in any given lobby, if you and another player own the same piece of property, you will each be able to enter your own personal instance of that property at any given time. You will also be able to enter each other’s instance of that property if you exchange and accept an invite. This way, multiple instances of ownership of the same property within a lobby can co-exist.

GTA$ and Fair Play

To allay some concerns we’ve heard on this subject, we can assure you that the game is designed such that the option of purchasable GTA$ should not disrupt the playing field – and there are a few mechanics in place to help ensure that. All players still have to rank up with Reputation Points (RP) in order to get access to purchase high-end items. No one can begin GTA Online and simply spend a lot of money out of the gate to get a leg up. You will have to earn your stripes and play to unlock access to the aspirational clothes, guns and other items. Please also remember that in GTA Online, hustling to afford the finer things by earning GTA$ doing robberies, stick-ups, winning races and other profitable activities is a fun gameplay experience rather than ever being a ‘grind’. As we mentioned on Wednesday, we will constantly tweak all areas of the game to make it play fairer and iron out any balancing problems (while fixing all the other problems we encounter!), but we really need your help in figuring out what those issues are. So please work with us on that!

An Ever-Growing Collection of Jobs

Grand Theft Auto Online is a long-term GTA experience that you can expect to be built-upon, to grow and to evolve in many ways in the coming weeks, months and beyond. As part of that, there will be a massive amount of Jobs available to play over time as we will be regularly adding new ones for you to enjoy. Additionally, you will soon be helping to add content to the game world yourselves, by creating custom Race and Deathmatch Jobs through the Content Creator tool which we plan to release this fall. Grand Theft Auto Online is a collaborative project between Rockstar and all GTA players worldwide, so expect that we’ll effectively be working on it together from day one. As a very small example, the Crew Hierarchies feature that was introduced a few weeks back on Social Club was a direct result of popular fan feedback from last year – and we’ll be looking at the GTA Online community’s feedback, input and ideas constantly to help inform how the game itself will grow and evolve. As mentioned last week, we’ll be looking closely at your feedback emails sent to GTAOnline@rockstargames.com and in the GTA Online Suggestion Box board at the forthcoming Social Club Forums. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you as active participants in the world of GTA Online starting tomorrow.

The Character Creation System

The hereditary-based character creation system of Grand Theft Auto Online allows for a multitude of options to create your avatar that will then inhabit the online world of Los Santos & Blaine County. Choose your gender then decide on your mother and father. From there, you can choose to give one parent genetic dominance or leave them more evenly matched. The choice is yours. Next, you adjust a set of lifestyle variables which help determine your character’s appearance and starting stats. Decide how much sleep he/she gets, how much partying they indulge in, how much honest work versus illegal activity, and more. Essentially, you can adjust the genetics to wind up with a fresh faced lad or lass or a grizzled, haggard degenerate or anywhere in between! You’ll also be able to preview your end result in real time all throughout to ensure you’re satisfied before putting your character on a direct flight to LS. Of course, once you’re out and about in the open world, you can further customize your character with haircuts, clothing and accessories to suit your tastes.

Exclusive Social Club Features

In Grand Theft Auto Online, Social Club members get access to weaponry and vehicular unlocks, a whole new suite of Crew features to represent and coordinate with your squad, and special tools to get the most out of Rockstar Jobs and user-created Jobs when the Content Creator tool launches this fall. Check out the updated rockstargames.com/V/socialclub for an overview of GTA Online Social Club features including new Crew customization possibilities like Crew colors and Emblem vehicle decals, Crew messaging options, and Open or Closed Crew Sessions. Plus unlocks like the Sawed-Off Shotgun, the Annis Elegy RH8 and the John Marston Parent option to do the Marston family proud in the modern day West. Also stay tuned for info later in October about the very first GTA Online Social Club Events which will have special Event Playlists curated by Rockstar, reserved in-game license plate awards for top players, and more. So, if you haven’t joined, we recommend doing so!