Cousin Roman Wants to See a GTA 4 Remaster

"Cousin. It has been eighteen years, let us go bowling," is what Roman Bellic would probably tell Niko Bellic if timed passed by in Liberty City as it would in real life. Alas, it doesn't. However, it hasn't stopped Jason Zumwald, the man who voiced everyone's favorite relative from Grand Theft Auto IV, from asking why the 2008 title still hasn't had a remaster yet.

For those who may have already forgotten, Roman is the cousin of Niko Bellic. He is a loud, hopeless, deeply lovable idiot who spends the entire game phoning you at the worst possible moment to ask if you want to go bowling. He is probably the single most quoted character in Grand Theft Auto history, probably next to Lamar Davis making fun of Franklin Clinton, and it's largely because that bowling invitation became an internet punchline that has outlived several console generations. Roman is annoying in a way people are genuinely nostalgic about, which is a difficult trick to pull off.

With that said, Zumwalt wondering where the GTA IV remaster is isn't just a nostalgic whim. It's a legitimate question and the demand is there, especially since it's the hardest mainline title in the franchise to play right now. There is no current-generation console version. The closest is the backwards compatible version on Xbox. The PC release has been a mess for years. To make matters worse, chunks of its licensed soundtrack, which was a huge part of what made Liberty City feel alive, have been stripped out over expiring music rights. The game you can buy today is not the game people fell in love with, and it gets a little worse every time a license lapses.

This isn't a knock on Rockstar. It's a question, and a point about preservation, landing squarely in the middle of a conversatiion this industry is already having about who is responsible for keeping games playable once the money dries up. A remaster of GTA IV is the only realistic way that game survives in a form resembling what it originally was, giving a whole new generation a chance to play one of the best things Rockstar ever made, properly, for the first time in years.

Elsewhere in the same interview, Zumwalt also voiced his interest in returning as Roman for Grand Theft Auto VI. We can't put this above Rockstar. After all, Packie McReary, a character from GTA IV showed up in Grand Theft Auto V in Los Santos as someone you can actually recruit for a heist, complete with dialogue about the old city. Niko's wanted poster also appears in GTA V, confirming that it's chronologically possible to bring someone back from older titles.

So the idea that a Liberty City face could appear on the other side of the country, like, let's say, in Vice City or anywhere else in Leonida, isn't just wishful thinking. Rockstar has literally already done it before.

Roman as a small, well-placed callback that makes people who played in 2008 grin wouldn't be the worst idea.

Will it happen? We won't really know for sure until the game comes out, and even then, Rockstar can always add him later, possibly in a DLC.

Rockstar's casting is famously locked down and its actors are bound by strict non-disclosure agreements, which means the people who genuinely are in GTA 6 are precisely the ones legally unable to tell you.

With that said, his willingness isn't synonymous with a confirmed appearance. It's important to make this disctinction. Fan demand for legacy returns has already produced fake news in the past. Earlier this year, there was a viral claim doing the rounds that Michael De Santa's actor from GTA V had confirmed a return, sourced to an outlet that never reported it.

Unfortunately, while it would be awesome to play through GTA IV again on modern platforms, it probably won't happen until after Rockstar has released GTA 6 in November. It currently has its hands full with the game's development, all the while dealing with controversies that have something to do with its alleged workplace culture, decision to go to discless, paywalling content behind the Ultimate Edition, and the expectations that GTA 6 will save the console industry from a projected down year.