As the world waits for Grand Theft Auto 6’s debut trailer, further evidence has emerged of scrapped plans for Grand Theft Auto 5 story DLC as well as Bully 2.
The latest news comes from the alleged leak of a database file for Grand Theft Auto 5, which is being dug into by the community. According to Twitter user @billsyliamgta, this file includes reference to the unreleased Bully 2.
GTAV’s PDB leak contains a string relating to Bully 2.
— Liam (@billsyliamgta) November 19, 2023
Credits to @GlowDevs and @WildBrick142 pic.twitter.com/4vDiyTozjn
For the uninitiated, Bully is Rockstar’s 2006 game about a juvenile delinquent student named James "Jimmy" Hopkins, who rises through the ranks of Bullworth Academy. Fans have long-called for a sequel, which was once in development at Rockstar’s New England studio in the late 2000s. While Bully 2 was obviously never released, some of its ideas made it into other Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption 2.
@billsyliamgta adds there’s a reference to GTA 5 playable character Trevor with a jetpack, which suggests story DLC was repurposed into GTA Online. In 2018, Rockstar finally unveiled GTA Online's Doomsday Heist missions alongside the Thruster, a jetpack that's still exclusive to the multiplayer mode to this day. (It didn't take long for modders to add the jetpack into GTA 5's story mode.)
Cut #GTAV Story Mode DLC is further confirmed thanks to the PDB leak with a string relating to Trevor and a jet pack. The Doomsday Heist was definitely a rework of it.
— Liam (@billsyliamgta) November 19, 2023
Info @GlowDevs pic.twitter.com/TRqnJLOMFS
GTA 5 never did receive significant story DLC, despite the constant call from fans. Rockstar instead focused on money-spinner GTA Online, which a decade on from GTA 5’s initial release is still going strong.
Meanwhile, Twitter user @GlowDevs reveals reference to CNC, which is thought to relate to the Cops ‘n’ Crooks mode that was reportedly intended for GTA Online but was canned after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020.
GTAV PDB LEAKS - COPS N' CROOKS - THREAD
— Glow (@GlowDevs) November 19, 2023
Originally, it was planned for there to be 8 different roles, it seems. Those are Cop, Crook, Officer, Tactical, Tech, Soldier, Enforcer and finally hacker. But there is no word on what specifics each of these roles do. pic.twitter.com/dx9POgwmI7
All this relates to past content, of course, and with Rockstar’s focus now firmly on GTA 6, it's doubtful it will ever see the light of day. But that hasn't stopped GTA and Bully fans from wondering what might have been had Rockstar taken a different path and released GTA 5 story DLC as well as Bully 2. GTA 6's debut trailer is due early December. While you wait, check out IGN’s feature GTA 6: Everything We Know.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
