Rumors surrounding the announcement and release of the inevitable Grand Theft Auto VI and its potential Vice City setting have been swirling alongside the arrival of this year’s next-gen consoles, with the latest coming from an alleged leak surrounding the game's soundtrack. Despite Rockstar Games not yet confirming the game’s existence, various leaks have suggested that the team may have already started working on it behind the scenes. There is no shortage of demands that fans have for Grand Theft Auto V’s sequel, but one of the most prevalent is the return of the series’ iconic Vice City.
This relentless passion for Vice City’s return is surely nothing new to Rockstar Games. Some older gamers may remember online forums in the mid-2000s being rife with threads wondering whether it was possible to travel there in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This idea was not as far-fetched as it may seem on its face; after all, San Andreas allowed players to travel to (an admittedly small part of) Liberty City for a mission to assassinate the head of the Forelli Family. Fans were temporarily satiated in 2006 when Vice City was the setting for the PSP title Grant Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, a prequel which had the player control Victor Vance, the older brother of Vice City’s Lance. However, the city has not been visited since, leaving players yearning for more.
Now, Inverse reports that synthwave musician Pete Brian has breathed new life into the Vice City theory on Twitter, where he wrote that Rockstar’s “music rights clearing people have been hitting up Synthwave artists for a 'Radio Station.'” Although the tweet has since been deleted, this was not before it renewed hope for many that this makes a Vice City comeback more likely. Vice City stands alone as the only mainline Grand Theft Auto title to take place in the 80s, and it features a significant amount of contemporary music as a result, all of which serves as inspirations for the modern synthwave movement.
There are other rumors and leaks to fuel this fire. A leak was spread last year that Rockstar had codenamed Grand Theft Auto VI as “Project Americas," which would take place in Vice City, as well as a new location based on Rio de Janeiro. This year, it was pointed out that one of the GTA Online's DLC race tracks included a map that resembled Florida and Mexico, leading players to speculate that Rockstar was subtly leaving hints that a sequel would take place in those regions. From a more pragmatic standpoint, a return to Vice City would simply make sense; the location is iconic to the series and has not been seen in 14 years. Considering the past two series titles have taken place in Liberty City and San Andreas, Rockstar could now either revisit Vice City or create a new location entirely - or both.
Unfortunately, none of these rumors are possible to prove due to Rockstar’s dogged silence. The existence of GTA Online also means that some (if not all) of them could apply to that game instead of any future projects. Until an announcement is made by Rockstar themselves, fans will surely continue analyzing any and every piece of information they have in the hopes that they will soon be returning to Vice City once again.
Source: Inverse
