GTA 5 single-player DLC and Bully 2 referenced in leaked code

It’s 17 years since the release of Bully, aka Canis Canem Edit, and during that time there’s been a near constant stream of rumours about a sequel, and absolutely nothing in the way of official announcements.

The general consensus is that efforts to make a sequel were started and then abandoned at least twice during that time. Now, however, it’s very difficult to imagine it ever being made, given how much it’d cost to develop to modern production standards. A spark of hope does still remain though, as a reference to Bully 2 has been found in leaked files for GTA 5.

It’s not clear how recent the program database for GTA 5 is and it’s hard to guess, since it references games as old as Midnight Club: Los Angeles but as recent as Red Dead Redemption 2.

There’s nothing unusual about one game’s files mentioning other unrelated titles, as developers will often reuse code and features between games, especially when many of Rockstar’s titles have similar mechanics.

Although it’s impossible to tell for certain whether the version of Bully 2 it’s referring to has been cancelled or not that is the safe bet, especially as the other big reveal is what seems to be unused ideas for GTA 5 – including single-player DLC.

Thanks to the unexpected success of GTA Online, the single-player campaign never did get any DLC, but rumours have long suggested that there were plans for it originally.

Fans trawling through the code have found references to Trevor using a jetpack, which is believed to have been something planned for the DLC but then later reused as part of the Doomsday Heist mission for GTA Online.

There’s also references to something called CNC, which is believed to be Cops ‘n’ Crooks, a planned GTA Online game mode where one side would play as the police and the others as criminals. It was supposedly cancelled following the murder of George Floyd by police officers in 2000.

Ultimately, all the datamining does is reveal things that never happened and now probably never will, but it’s still interesting to see how much goes on behind the scenes at developers, and yet is never officially announced or acknowledged.