New listings suggest Midnight Club could be making a return

Midnight Club, the cult-classic racing franchise from Rockstar Games, might just see a resurgence, according to recent hints. Developer Visual Concepts is actively hiring for "an unannounced, open world driving game with a major license."

They're looking for individuals to fill a variety of positions, namely Producer, Senior Technical Artist, Senior Build & Automaton Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Multiplayer. The positions also calls for Unreal Engine expertise, implying this new racer could be driven by Epic Games' latest Unreal Engine 5 and be multi-platform.

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Could it be Midnight Club?

So far, the studio is known for its efforts on 2K's sports titles, namely NBA 2K and WWE 2K, with their latest offering being the upcoming WWE 2K22.

Since this listing is about a racing title, the team seems to be stepping outside of its comfort zone to tackle something new that will supposedly "blow your mind" (as per their Twitter bio).

That begs the question: why Midnight Club? After all, a "major license" could be referring to anything. Perhaps another Fast & Furious? XCOM Racing Unleashed? Or a brand new IP altogether. However, it makes sense for this to be the next game in the iconic arcade racing series.

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Two Reasons

First, while Rockstar may have helmed the franchise from the start, Take Two is still their parent company. So Take Two could have handed over the IP to Visual Concepts to work on. Given Rockstar's recent announcement concerning the development of GTA 6, it would make sense for them to have their hands full.

Second, Take Two's recent investor call touched on the topic, with CEO Strauss Zelnick saying:

"Our labels are home to some of the most iconic brands in the world, including Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Midnight Club, NBA 2K, BioShock, Borderlands, Sid Meier's Civilization, Mafia, and Kerbal Space Program."

It may not mean much, but it is interesting nonetheless.

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Rockstar Games' Midnight Club games are a series of arcade racing titles. The last entry was "Los Angeles - Complete Edition" in 2009 for the PS3 & Xbox 360. The franchise has been dormant ever since, with the developer moving on to more popular IPs such as GTA.