Grand Theft Auto V “Up For Consideration” For PC And Wii U Release

Currently, Grand Theft Auto V is only in development for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, however, Rockstar Games recently stated that they are open to the idea of porting the title to other platforms.

IGN asked Dan Houser, Rockstar Games’ vice president, why the studio was not developing a PC or Wii U version of Grand Theft Auto V. Houser did not confirm any future plans for the title, but did state that nothing has been ruled out at this point.

“Everything else is up for consideration. That’s all I can give you. The main thing is we are not… we are a third-party publisher. We’re not Nintendo, we’re not Sony, we’re not Microsoft. We love all of them in different ways. But we can do what we want wherever there’s the appropriate business opportunity and chance to find a market. If that’s on Apple we put something on Apple. Wherever it might be. I think that’s the fun in what we do. We see ourselves as a content company that uses technology. We don’t make it; we use it to make the most fun stuff.”

Given Rockstar’s development history, a Grand Theft Auto V PC release would seem to be more a question of “when” rather than “if”. The real mystery here is if the studio will ever port the game to Nintendo’s new HD console, and that is a much harder one to answer at this point.

There is no doubt that Nintendo (or at least Nintendo of America) would love to see Grand Theft Auto V released on the Wii U. In 2008 Reggie Fils-Amie stated that he wanted to see a GTA game for the Wii “if they build a bottoms-up game“, and earlier this week he echoed those same desires to MTV when he stated that Nintendo’s job on the Wii U is to “create an environment where teams like Rockstar can bring their very best content to our platform”.

With Nintendo more than open to the idea, it all comes down to Rockstar’s willingness to make the investment required to get GTA V running on the Wii U. If history is any indication, Rockstar may not be all that interested. 2008’s Bully: Scholarship Edition for the Wii was as close as Nintendo ever got to having a Grand Theft Auto released on their home console — which reminds me, enough of all this GTA talk, where is Bully 2!?!?!? — and that game didn’t exactly fly off store shelves.

I’d say that decision to port Grand Theft Auto V to the Wii U will ultimately come down to what the new console’s install base looks like a year from now. If Nintendo can build up a decent sized base that is willing to spend money on third-party software, then there is a good chance. If not, it runs the risk of turning into another Wii situation.

Source: GamesIndustry