No sense wasting time, I'll get right to it: Reader Leon Lien was scoping out the new GTA V iPhone app called GTA iFruit and spotted assets for the PC version of GTA V. Our editors suggested we recreate the scenario for added proof... and guess what we found?
First a full disclosure before we go any further: We've been hit with a lot of legal threats from Rockstar's legal cronies over the past week, with the last threat being very, very serious. So I'm not able to post any screenshots of the procedure to access the files or screenshots of the files themselves, since we have to err on the side of caution right now and hopefully avoid a quarter-of-a-million dollar fine. Instead I'll just descriptively make the information available for anyone else who also wants to take a look.
So basically Leon Lien tweeted us the following message containing links to images he took of the files he extracted from the iTunes app for the recently launched GTA V.
The files you're looking at are from one of the iTunes apps that Rockstar recently released – a companion app called iFruit that also launched along with another game manual app, both of which are for GTA V. One of the apps contains a game manual for each of the game's respective platforms, and the other app contains other tidbits of fun activities for players to partake in to enhance their experience with GTA V. The companion game manual app is available for both iOS users and PC users, the GTA iFruit app is only available to iOS users.
I took a look at the files for both the PC and iOS versions of the game manual app and found nothing of significance. There are only assets and media available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of GTA V in the PC and iOS game manual app. However, I followed in the footsteps of Lien, downloaded the iFruit app from iTunes, extracted the assets with 7Zip, ran the PNGs through FixPNG and then noticed exactly what Lien noticed: images and app assets for the PC version of GTA V.
The folder contains all the app's assets, including PNG images for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC renditions of the GTA V manual. As an example, some of the files include a mention of a color wheel highlight bar for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC (to avoid any legal heat I won't completely type out the name of the file, but if anyone bothers to look, you'll know what I mean).
What's interesting though is that there is no showing of the PS4 or Xbox One versions of the game in the app's 4,724 files.
This new information actually leads me to believe that we need to reassess Rockstar's intent with GTA V: It may not launch simultaneously for PC and next-gen consoles.
In our other article noting that there was code pointing to a PC and PS4 version of GTA V, it left many believing that the next-gen version of the game would launch later on down the road alongside a PC version... but the app's assets leads me to believe the PC version could arrive a lot sooner than we all think. Having a PC assets added to the app will make the inclusion of the PC version to the app a quick hop, skip and a jump on the update front for Rockstar.
While many console fanboys are already incensed that PC gamers are holding out on buying GTA V for home consoles, and will probably see the news and shout “FAKE!” I beseech all of you who are overcome with doubt to extinguish your skepticism by looking at the assets yourself. The apps are free so there's nothing to lose and there's no piracy or malfeasance involved... unless you're looking at the minor inconvenience of 128mb taking up your hard drive space as a bad thing.
The apps – for those of you who have iTunes – will download to your Music folder in the My Documents folder. Use a thorough file extractor to unzip the contents and bam... all the evidence you need. I might suggest you do this before Rockstar catches wind of the news and has the app creator to update the app and remove the assets.
In the meantime, GTA V has launched for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. With ample evidence now being made available for a PC version, it's interesting to see how long Rockstar will hold out before making an official announcement.
