Rockstar North Is Hiring For Development Of A Next Gen Open-World Character Driven Game

Rockstar North, the developer of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, recently released Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC, giving us a glimpse at what the team might be able to do with next generation technology. Now current job listing on their website suggests that they're looking into the next generation very seriously, as they're currently seeking a programmer that can assist in building animation systems for a next generation open-world game.

The listing, spotted by PlayStation Universe, is for an Animation Systems Programmer. As part of the job description, Rockstar North states, "we are looking for an experienced, talented engineer to help us in developing advanced animation systems for large open world character-based games." Further down, under the subheading "What We Do," it says that Rockstar is "a global team of programmers and researchers who collaborate on pushing the boundaries of character animation on next generation hardware."

This is the first explicit reference we've seen to Rockstar North working on something for next generation consoles. Their output has slowed during this generation: Red Dead Redemption 2 is the only completely original game that the developer has released for the PS4 and Xbox One, alongside an improved version of Grand Theft Auto V. Both titles feature online modes that have made Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, a lot of money from microtransactions.

While it's feasible that Rockstar North is developing a next gen version of Red Dead Redemption 2, the language used in the job listing suggests that they're working on something entirely new. They're looking for someone to "develop, maintain, extend, and support an extensive high-level runtime animation system, pipeline, and tools," and to "implement well designed, robust, highly optimal new animation system features, integrating them into our existing animation, gameplay, and AI systems."

The most likely next release from Rockstar North would be Grand Theft Auto 6. It's been five years since the PS4 and Xbox One release of Grand Theft Auto V, which arrived about a year after the Xbox 360 and PS3 version. Grand Theft Auto V has sold over 115 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time--a sequel seems inevitable.