Why Is Everyone Talking About LA Noire 2 All of a Sudden?

Rumors of an LA Noire 2 have been floating around the internet lately, but is there actually any truth to them?

Over the weekend, eagle-eyed fans dug up an old GTA 6 leak from 2023. The leak originated on 4Chan and revealed a bunch of details that have actually since been confirmed. Perhaps one of the most notable bits is that Rockstar once planned to have four protagonists in GTA 6, but eventually settled on two, which was recently confirmed by Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson. However, it is worth noting that this tidbit was also buried in a report from Axios a year prior to the 4Chan leak, as well.

The post went on to reveal details about the game's relationship mechanic, which has also since been confirmed, and teased some spoilers that have been loosely corroborated in other legitimate leaks in recent years. However, the reason people are digging this post back up is because it claims that Rockstar's next game is a sequel to LA Noire, set to release in 2030.

The game would be set in San Francisco and center around the Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the city in the '70s. If there ever were to be an LA Noire followup, this would be the most ideal story to tackle, given that it's rich with unique crimes, people, and has a great setting. So... is any of this real? Let's look at all of the evidence.

For starters, LA Noire was developed by the studio Team Bondi, led by a man named Brendan McNamara. Rockstar published the crime game and lent some developers to assist on the project. Unfortunately, Team Bondi dissolved shortly after LA Noire's release. Not long after, McNamara founded a new studio to make a successor known as The Whore of the Orient (which we reported new details on earlier this summer) without the help of Rockstar.

The game was scrapped due to funding issues and McNamara founded yet another studio known as Video Games Deluxe, which helped port LA Noire to VR devices. The studio was acquired by Rockstar in 2025 and renamed to Rockstar Australia, leading many to wonder what they're up to, exactly.

Presumably, they're helping with GTA 6, but a lot of the studio is comprised of ex-LA Noire creatives, including McNamara, who is a renowned storyteller. It seems hard to imagine that a creative like him would be relegated to leading a support studio, so it seems feasible that there could be plans for more games with him at the helm.

Rockstar has also shown an interest in the IP multiple times over the years. LA Noire was the second Rockstar game behind GTA 5 to be ported over to Xbox One and PS4, which raised eyebrows, given fans were more interested in titles like Bully, Red Dead Redemption, or even GTA 4. A condensed version of the game was also ported to VR around the same time, which was an unusual level of investment for Rockstar.

More recently, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about the possibility of LA Noire returning. He noted that the door is open for Rockstar to revisit the game, so long as there's a team that's passionate about it.

“Broadly, we’re looking at doing something in the future with all of our intellectual property,” he said in April 2026. “There’s nothing to announce on LA Noire specifically, and if there were, it would be Rockstar announcing it, not me. But in any case, with regard to our legacy IP, the teams are always looking at what we have and we’re always thinking about it. The question is, at any given time, do we have a team that’s passionate about working on that?”

Whether McNamara is invested in another period crime drama remains to be seen, but his team would likely be the ones most gung-ho about going back to LA Noire. In 2012, Rockstar also teased that an LA Noire sequel wasn't off the table, as it was pleased with how the game performed, and Take-Two even noted its importance as a "franchise" moving forward.

"Don't count out the possibility of a new game in the LA Noire franchise in the future," said Rockstar during a fan Q&A. "We simply have not decided anything. We're all very pleased with how that game turned out and are considering what the future may hold for LA Noire as a series. We don't always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won't get to them eventually – see Max [Payne] and Red Dead for evidence of that – we have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing."

Either way, it's an exciting prospect to consider, but there are a lot of questions over what direction Rockstar will take post-GTA 6. The game is expected to be the biggest entertainment launch in history, and the studio will likely support the hell out of it with updates over time, especially when its online mode launches in the future.

Will that be all-consuming, eliminating any chance of "smaller" games like an LA Noire sequel, or will the financial success afford Rockstar the opportunity to make more interesting artistic plays? We'll just have to wait and see, but Rockstar is already set to publish a pair of Max Payne remakes, developed by Remedy, so there are opportunities outside of heavily monetized online games.