Rockstar Games hasn’t had a lot of luck in keeping its secrets as of late, but a musician’s Instagram post from more than a year ago is suddenly stirring up questions regarding one of its dormant intellectual properties.
As reported by Comicbook, one Keen-eyed YouTuber spotted the old post, made on the markus_kienzl_music Instagram page on August 26 of last year, in which Kienzel alleged that Rockstar had licensed one of his tracks for use in a trailer for Midnight Club: Los Angeles. That game was originally released in October of 2008. Somehow, this post had been generally overlooked despite the hashtags #rockstargames and #midnightclubloasangeles being included.
As we reported last month, YouTube channel Teaserplay has shared a concept trailer for a fan-made remake of Midnight Club created using Unreal Engine 5. This was well after the announcement made last August by Kienzl, leaving the possibility that the song had actually been licensed for use in the trailer for the fan-made build. However, the music used in the fan-made trailer is a slow-paced instrumental led by a jazzy electric guitar, while the piece of music Kienzel’s post claims was licensed for the game, Dundy Lion (feat. Paul St. Hilare), is a high-tempo number with a reggae/hip-hop fusion feel. Put simply, the two pieces are not remotely similar to one another.
Rockstar Games has yet to respond to Kienzl’s original post or the rumors springing from its resurgent news, but as of now, there has been no other apparrent indication that Rockstar has plans to bring back the Midnight Club series.
If rumors are true that Rockstar is, or at one point had been, working on a remastered version of Midnight Club: Los Angeles, it would be an impressive feat to keep such news hidden for so long. The company recently because the victim of one of the most widespread unintentional information leaks in the industry’s history after an unnamed person released more than 90 videos of unfinished production footage from the next Grand Theft Auto game last month, and the alleged culprit also seemed to be attempting to ransom the source code for Grand Theft Auto 5 and what is believed to be Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar responded with a statement of disappointment that fans should get their first look at the game in such a manner, but it assured its fan base that the leak will not hinder the game’s release.