It has been nearly two decades since Rockstar Games last made a Midnight Club game. But at one point, Midnight Club 5 was in the early stages of development. According to a new interview with a former Rockstar developer, that game was canceled and the Midnight Club franchise was shelved due to creative differences, missed deadlines, and a lack of respect for the team working on the series.
In a new interview with Insider Gaming, former Rockstar senior designer Kris Roberts explained that when he left the company in 2010, a core team at Rockstar San Diego was still working on the Midnight Club franchise.
“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,” said Roberts. “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.”
As to why this next entry in the series was canned, Roberts claims it came down to a few factors. A big one was that there was a “non-trivial” conflict between Rockstar HQ in New York City and Rockstar San Diego over missed development deadlines. But there was more to the situation, too.
“I think that might have been the core of it, but it was also creative control,” said the former Rockstar dev who also worked on Red Dead Redemption. “The team in San Diego kind of…we felt, in any other studio environment, Midnight Club was a solid game.” Roberts continued, “The perception was we never got the accolades or the reception,” said Roberts. “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.”
Roberts also said there was data showing that Midnight Club was competing successfully against Need for Speed and Burnout, with players reportedly playing Rockstar’s racing game longer than they played its competitors. But that didn’t matter to Rockstar management.
And now, nearly 20 years after Midnight Club: Los Angeles arrived on Xbox 360 and PS3, we still don’t have a new entry in the series or even a remake or remaster. I’d argue that Rockstar Games forgot about Midnight Club, but in 2022, Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive mentioned the series during an earnings call. So someone there remembers the once-popular series. But for now, it seems unlikely to return.