Rockstar's Bully is 18 years old, but the franchise still needs to grow

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It's easy to forget these days, though Rockstar was once known for more than Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto. For now GTA has been the studio's best-selling franchise for quite some time, more experimental projects such as Hunting and Bully allowed more risk-taking and development, often showcasing developers' boldest ideas. With the latter turning a whopping eighteen years old, the absence of this tongue-in-cheek, tween-centric series is particularly poignant.




Although it was met with controversy upon its release, mainly due to its provocative title, Bully has proven to be a pretty solid game. To this day, anyone who grew up with Bully looks back on it fondly, as its core mechanics, storytelling, and even visuals have aged far better than one might expect. Bully follows Jimmy Hopkins, a teenager with an attitude problem but a heart of gold. While players may engage in some stereotypical “hooligan” activities, the majority of the game is actually about confronting both kids and adult bullies, with Jimmy befriending outcasts and eventually making his own way as a misfit. It's a story about identity and justice that transcends its era, and it's a shame it never got a sequel.

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Bully deserves a sequel, now more than ever


Why hasn't there been a hooligan 2 yet

Although some may hope for something new Bully game, the continuation of the franchise seems more of a pipe dream in modern times. This is not the world Bully lacks potential—its potential is the main reason why so many gamers demand it Hooligan 2— or that there won't be demand for a sequel, but Rockstar clearly has other priorities. Rumors about Hooligan 2 have been around for years, but most reputable sources say the game never got very far into development before being canned or shelved indefinitely.

A simple culprit could be: GTA online. An incredibly successful multiplayer component GTA 5 may have taken over Rockstar in the 2010s, and its rampant popularity makes it unthinkable to waste development resources on much else. And although more than ten years have passed since then GTA 5 franchise seems more popular than ever, meaning there's almost no chance that Rockstar is working on something like Hooligan 2 nearby GTA 6the most anticipated game of next year. There may be a slim chance of revising the IP afterwards GTA 6but new Red Dead Redemption game seems the more likely prospect, for better or worse.


Bully Can't Fade Away

It may not have mass marketability or social footprint as GTA or Red Dead Redemptionbut Bully it's a uniquely compelling property that deserves a sequel. The subtleties of teenage life are often explored in JRPGs such as Person and visual novels galore, but rarely do games offer a window into American adolescence. More precisely, in the game world, it is extremely rare to find a well-founded coming-of-age story – usually demons, aliens, zombies or other supernatural forces intervene.

Sometimes it may seem absurd and implausible, but Bully not about saving the world or learning how to use special powers. It's a story about adaptation, identity struggles, and standing up for friends. As such, it has a lot in common with other leading Rockstar titles that explore the human position in relation to society. Despite as much controversy as it caused when it was launched, Bully it's actually an extremely mature, nuanced game in terms of both narrative and gameplay, and it's arguably one of Rockstar's greatest achievements. It is currently inactive, but the IP should see the light of day relatively soon.


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