Midnight Club 5 Had a London Map Before GTA Killed It

"The New York perspective was, 'You're not GTA'. When you're the red-headed stepchild project. You know, we're doing a good job, we're world-class, but we're still treated less than. It was challenging."

That's former Rockstar San Diego senior designer Kris Roberts, speaking to Insider Gaming about why the Midnight Club franchise never got a fifth entry. Roberts, who also worked on Red Dead Redemption, says the team had already started building prototype cities for Midnight Club 5, including an early pass at a London map, before the whole thing was scrapped.

I think they had even had some prototype cities; I kind of recall London was the one they were doing map development and stuff for. There was effort, and they were starting Midnight Club 5, or whatever they were going to call it, but it didn't last, and it was canceled.

Roberts acknowledged that the cancellation wasn't entirely one-sided. There was "non-trivial" conflict between Rockstar's New York headquarters and the San Diego team, partly because Midnight Club: Los Angeles missed several development deadlines. But he framed the deeper issue as one of institutional disrespect. The San Diego team had data showing Midnight Club was competing successfully against Need for Speed and Burnout, with players reportedly spending more time with Rockstar's racer than with its rivals. None of that mattered to New York.

London, Then Layoffs

Once the cancellation landed, Rockstar dismantled the Midnight Club team. Some staff were moved onto the RAGE engine or folded into Red Dead Redemption's development. The rest were let go. Roberts said the message was clear: no more Midnight Club, everything going forward would be GTA.

Before Rockstar acquired them, the San Diego team was Angel Studios, a developer that had impressed Rockstar with its work on Midtown Madness. Rockstar tapped Angel to create both Midnight Club and Smuggler's Run, then bought the studio outright. A team with that pedigree being reduced to support work and then partially gutted says a lot about how Rockstar prioritises its portfolio.

I grew up playing Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition on PS2, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles was one of my favourite racing games on the 360. Hearing that a London map was actively in development stings. A Rockstar-built London racing game, with the studio's attention to city detail and that signature Midnight Club sense of speed, could have been something special. Instead, it became another casualty of GTA's gravitational pull, joining Bully, L.A. Noire, and Max Payne on the shelf of franchises Rockstar won't touch. At least Max Payne got its remakes outsourced to Remedy. Midnight Club hasn't even gotten that.

Take-Two re-registered the Midnight Club trademark in 2012, and CEO Strauss Zelnick mentioned the series during a 2022 investor call, so someone at the company remembers it exists. But with Grand Theft Auto VI launching November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X, every resource Rockstar has is pointed in one direction. The only other franchise likely to see a new entry is Red Dead Redemption, which has sold 115 million units across both games. Midnight Club, a series that was beating Need for Speed in player retention, never got the chance to prove what those numbers could become.