Which game engine does GTA 5 use?

The GTA franchise has been a landmark achievement in game development and is the standard by which other open-world games are compared to. The genre was made popular by the emergence and subsequent dominance of Rockstar Games' GTA 3.

The game would set the world alight with its fascinating open-world design that is packed with intricate detail. Over time, Rockstar sensed a need to push the boundaries of immersion even further. Thus, the RAGE Engine was born.

In videogame development, a game engine is what powers developers to create assets and detail. It essentially constructs the games that players enjoy. For all intents and purposes, a game engine is perhaps the most important part of game development.

After having used Criterion Games' RenderWare engine to develop games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows, Rockstar finally had to make a switch.

The game engine that GTA 5 uses

After Criterion was acquired by Electronic Arts, Rockstar had no choice but to develop a proprietary game engine that was called Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE). The first game developed using the engine was Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis in 2006.

Since then, the engine has powered some of the biggest and well-detailed games of the decade such as GTA 4 and its two DLCs, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

The game engine has gone through several iterations, and its latest version was used for the development of Red Dead Redemption 2. With GTA 5 being re-released as a next-gen game, reports have surfaced that the new version will be utilizing the same advanced iteration of the RAGE engine from Red Dead Redemption 2.

Being the open-world giant that the GTA franchise is, it would be fascinating to see how the RAGE engine evolves with the sequel. With the newly-filed patent that details extremely advanced AI and NPC behavior, things are looking positive for the future of the engine.