One of the most iconic Grand Theft Auto games may be getting a re-release. A new filing for Grand Theft Auto 3 was recently spotted on the website for the Australian Classification Board. The filing, hints that this Grand Theft Auto 3 re-release may be coming to multiple platforms.
The new listing for Grand Theft Auto 3 however bears the R18+ classification due to “sexual activity related to incentives and rewards.” The latter rating only became applicable to video games in 2013 (previously, games could only go as high as MA15+). More importantly the listing states that the game is “multi platform.”
Now, some may think that this is just the old game being reclassified under the revised rules. The original did come out on PC and Xbox in addition to PlayStation 2 after all. However, what contradicts this is the fact that this is a new filing, separate from those for the previous releases.
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The other bit of information that hints that this isn’t just a reclassification of the previous releases is the fact that the game’s version is listed as “modified.” Now, modifying an 18-year-old game doesn’t seem like something that would be done if it wasn’t being re-released. Additionally, most of the other entries for Grand Theft Auto games on the ACB site don’t carry this “modified” listing.
Australia and Grand Theft Auto 3 have quite the interesting history. The game was originally banned by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification due to its depictions of sex and violence. This meant that publisher Take-Two Interactive had to recall the game, pulling copies from store shelves. Developer Rockstar North, then known as DMA Design, then had to rework the game, taking out the offensive content, before it was allowed to be sold again with an MA15+ rating in 2002.
Rockstar Games has not made any sort of announcement regarding a possible re-release of Grand Theft Auto 3 but this means it could be coming to other platforms like the Xbox One or Switch. It is already available on the PS4 as a downloadable PS2 classic. These rumored re-releases would probably be similar to that PS4 version, as a full modern remake would be unlikely.
