Facebook today announced that it’s working with Rockstar Games to bring Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) exclusively to the Oculus Quest 2 headset.

The company said in its Facebook keynote today at Facebook Connect 2021 that it has been working “for years” to bring the game to VR.

“This new version of what I think is one of the greatest games ever made will offer players an entirely new way to experience this iconic open world in virtual reality,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

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Rockstar Games previously announced it had started production on an “AAA open world title in VR” back in July 2020, which came on the heels of its VR port of L.A. Noire (2011) to the medium. This follows a trend of established studios reformatting older games, such as Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 (2005), for the Oculus Quest 2 hardware.

There’s no release date on the books yet, as Facebook and Rockstar have only just tipped their collective hats by saying it’s currently in development. We’re sure to learn more at the Oculus 2022 Gaming Showcase.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • VRFriend

    Great!!!

  • Amazing! Can’t wait to see it.

  • rfanck

    Good ! For vr noobs experience full motion sickness exclusively on quest 2 !

    • Nicholas Jesse Mathews Hoover

      Funny I’ve gotten 0 motion sickness from it

  • MosBen

    Very cool, though my refusal to buy a Facebook HMD is going to mean that I don’t get to play it. Hopefully it comes to SteamVR at some point.

    • Elite-Force_Cinema

      And then what do you want Oculus to do after they make this game SteamVR exclusive on the Valve Index? Just so that you can force Oculus and Facebook to die as a thing, like, right now, FOR FUCKING EVER, simply because you think they steal your data and sells it to Chinese gonvornments just for advertising and nothing else just like how all of the other companies like Twitter and apple does it? Cause it sounds like you are

      • MosBen

        Uh, I didn’t say that it should be SteamVR exclusive, I said that I hope that it comes to SteamVR at some point. Based on this comment and the other response you made to me, you seem to really have a hard time reading what other people are saying and engaging with what they actually said, instead of whatever it is that you want to be mad about.

        And I haven’t said that Facebook should die, though I will note that Oculus as an independent organization doesn’t really exist anymore anyway, having been pretty fully integrated into Facebook, I mean Meta. I would like to see Facebook, and all social media or tech companies which gather user data, to be more strictly regulated, but that’s a far cry from asking for them to be shut down.

        Get a grip, fella.

    • Andross

      exactly. we really don’t need a “console war” even on PCs.
      Unluckily looking at the downvote of the comment above there’s still people that like going against friends instead of companies.

  • Joseph Elwell

    I’ve never played Grand Theft Auto, so the idea of playing it in VR sounds amazing. But given this will be a quest exclusive, the graphics will probably look like a potato. Unless they remaster it the graphics will be straight out of 2013. At least the graphics will be of a higher quality than Resident Evil 4, which was a 2005 game. Porting old games to modern systems is not exactly groundbreaking. Remaster it like Diablo 2 Resurrected and then we can talk. But sadly that would require PCVR as the Quest can’t handle the breadth of these older games and still provide modern looking graphics.

    • Elite-Force_Cinema

      And why do you care about potato graphics until the point you think they should not exist, FOREVER? Is it because you think you want to show how much you want to shill on AAA and photorealistic graphics until the point you want to force standalone VR to die as a thing, like, right now, FOR FUCKING EVER, or what? Cause it sounds like you are, you AAA graphics shill and PC VR fantard!!!

    • ViRGiN

      Look at this uninformed guy, thinking RE4 is a 2005 port. It’s actually a port of 2011 HD version.

      And GTA is getting a trilogy remaster. Obviously they will base it on that one, especially given it’s built on UE4.

      • Joseph Elwell

        So the graphics are only 10 years old. That is good to know. The people still look like potatoes to me. There is nothing wrong with you enjoying the graphics of a 2011 port. I just want more out of my VR experiences than casual phone games, which is how I see these games.

        Obviously you are assuming a lot about what the GTA remaster will look like on the Quest. But if you enjoy the graphics on the RE4 port, I think you’ll love the graphics on the GTA port. You and I don’t have to agree on our opinions of what we expect from graphics.

        • ViRGiN

          I love the RE4 graphics on Q2. It looks really good, running without extra hardware.
          It’s a bit below your average PCVR game. There are very, very few beauties on PCVR called worthy powered by PC. I wish it wasn’t like that, but PCVR only went downhill and never reached any potential.

          I expect “high end” gaming to be PSVR2. One hardware to develop for, no issues with hundreds of configurations.

          • Joseph Elwell

            I am in agreement with you more often than not here.

            Half Life Alyx and a heavily modded Skyrim VR have essentially ruined many games for me that I likely would have enjoyed just 2 or 3 years ago. Yes, there aren’t many games that really push the graphics even in PCVR land (which admittedly does appear to be dying off).

            Your prediction for high end gaming does seem likely. Time will tell. While I won’t enjoy the graphics of many of these releases, I’m grateful for anything short of the death of VR gaming.

        • jbob4mall

          GTA Sam Andreas is a phone game now?

    • Ben Jacobs

      I’m not so sure I’d agree graphics make or break a game.

      My favourite games include Minecraft, Valhiem and Kerbal Space Program. None of which are particularly pretty.

      As for a Diablo 2 port, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that the kind of stuff best left to VorpX (Unless you’re hoping for a remake comparible to RE2.)

      In so far as I’m aware Rockstar are remastering the first three GTA games for release this year, so the graphics may well be updated for this port (although it doesn’t look all that impressive by modern standards)

    • shadow9d9

      The nintendo switch has a 5 year old mobile chip and just entered top 5 of best selling consoles of all time. You are in a minority that worship graphics.

    • michel

      I recently played some of my old dvd games like “Dead Space” (2008) and “Bioshock” (2007). Sure, graphics-wise and physics-wise, they can’t touch modern games, but the quality of those games are such that they were still a blast to play! Put the really good games from that era in standalone VR and they will be a real immersive experience. Sure, Alyx VR set a high bar for VR and I would love to have more of that, but that doesn’t mean that everything that does not reach that level is crap!

  • Vengeance

    Well since no one supported pcvr content oculus gave up on that they said lone echo 2 was that last pcvr exclusive title they would be working on for a while so enjoy the quest 2 and their title of remade old games in vr honestly I’m excited for it the quest 2 is getting some good stand alone games and that’s all that matters no pc required for now

    • Ben Jacobs

      When people say things like this I’m always left wondering: “who is no one”?

      Not to say I disagree with the perception that Oculus are attempting to create a closed ecosystem.

      My issue is that arguments like this seem to omit many factors including: FB were selling a premium headsets. The Oculus store had exclusives (Lone Echo is as highly by many as Alyx).

      I can’t see any rational reason Oculus couldn’t or shouldn’t make this avilible on PC in the same capacity they have Lone Echo and other titles beyond wanting to grow the Quest userbase and lock the consumer into their store.

      • shadow9d9

        They are creating an incentive to buy into the ecosystem.

        • Holger Fischer

          That never worked for me. No Playstation, no Facebook, sorry Meta.. I simply ignore platform exclusive games. When they are much later ported to pc I am not willing to pay the ‘new game’ price and wait for a discount.

          • shadow9d9

            Sucks for you! Looks like you are stuck with the rapidly dying pcvr then!

          • Ben Jacobs

            Why do people seem to celebrate the potential death of PCVR? It seems counter productive considering most titles on the Quest started out in that ecosystem.

            The death of PCVR seems a negative for all VR users ultimately.

          • JayTee

            I don’t understand how people who have played PCVR versions of Quest games can go back. I refunded my quest version of FNaF: Help Wanted, because the lighting was completely absent, and the textures were awful. Instantly broke my immersion.

            The potential for stunning lighting and physics possible with PCVR is unmatched, and a completely different experience.

        • Ben Jacobs

          But that doesn’t necesitate locking PC users and other Oculus users out of experiences (making such titles Oculus store exclusive has the potential to grow the userbase beyond those they sell HMD’s to at a loss).

    • Joel Welden-Smith

      Well to heck with them then. You can get tons of great pcvr games on steam and viveport. Who needs crappy graphics. One of the best things about vr is the immersive realism. pcvr isn’t going anywhere

  • Fierce Deity

    I was kinda surprised when he metioned GTA. Isn’t a mission in Gta 5 about killing him lol. It think it was the “friend request” mission and they call his company LifeInvader.

    • johnyjazz

      That’s one of my favourite missions!

  • JesuSaveSouls

    Been awaiting San andreas in vr since first viewing gear vr some 6 years ago. It was my favorite game. My favorite title now is the gta5 in vr unofficial, bit San Andreas will be very cool in native vr.

    • Totius

      I agree, but why not to make GTAV for PC VR? That, possibly with multiplayer, could be a killer app.. With all that money invested why not to make that deal with Rockstar, even if they would not earn much money in the imminent future,they could really show what a massive game like that could be in VR

      • BleedingPurist

        I have to imagine that is ultimately the plan, but that they currently want to focus on stand-alone titles that rely only on the Quest 2.

        I’m a bit confused by your statement though. San Andreas is massive, if not as detailed as GTA V. This is an awesome step in the right direction.

        • Totius

          Yeah it is definitely a step in the right direction, I agree, but it will not be as detailed as GTA V (which is not a minor detail.. 10 years is huge difference in graphics, physics et cetera)

  • I wonder if they’ll “readapt it for a modern audience”, too…