L.A. Noire 2 is trending again because an old Grand Theft Auto 6 leak has resurfaced, but Rockstar has not confirmed a sequel, its alleged San Francisco setting or a 2030 release. IGN’s report and GTA BOOM’s fact-check trace the claims to an anonymous 2023 post, not a current announcement.
L.A. Noire 2 rumour: what the old leak says
The post reportedly describes an early sequel set in San Francisco, with a case tied to the Zodiac Killer, advanced facial scanning and a possible 2030 release. Those details remain unverified. The post is years old, anonymous and about a project it says was at an early stage; neither Rockstar nor parent company Take-Two has confirmed that such a project exists. GTA BOOM traces those specifics to a 2023 4chan post later shared on GTAForums.
The leak has returned because some of its Grand Theft Auto 6 claims appear to overlap with later reporting. It said Rockstar had considered four protagonists before settling on Jason and Lucia, a change Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson later discussed. IGN notes that Axios had reported the four-character idea before the 4chan post, however, so that overlap does not verify the rest. We have covered Rockstar’s explanation for choosing two protagonists.
A resurfaced leak can contain a detail that later proves true without validating every other item in the same post. The San Francisco setting, Zodiac case and release timing have not been independently confirmed by Rockstar or Take-Two.
What Take-Two has actually said about L.A. Noire
The clearest recent signal came in April, when Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about the franchise at the iicon conference. He said the company considers its wider catalogue, while stressing that there was no specific L.A. Noire announcement. RockstarINTEL reported his answer, which we covered in our earlier report on Zelnick’s comments.
“Broadly, we’re looking at doing something in the future with all of our intellectual property. There’s nothing to announce on L.A. Noire specifically, and if there were, it would be Rockstar announcing it, not me.”
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO
Rockstar’s acquisition of Video Games Deluxe adds a plausible connection, but no evidence of a sequel. The Sydney studio was renamed Rockstar Australia in 2025; the acquisition announcement says it had worked on the L.A. Noire re-releases and The VR Case Files, alongside Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. It does not say the team is developing a new detective game. Take-Two’s announcement establishes the studio’s history, not its next assignment.
The franchise has also spent years in the category of “possible, but undecided”. In a 2012 fan Q&A, Rockstar said not to count out another L.A. Noire game, then added that it had not decided anything and that bandwidth and timing shaped its plans. IGN reported the exchange at the time. The long gap since the 2011 original makes renewed speculation understandable; it does not make a specific leak more reliable.
For more on the original game’s development, our report on writer Daniel McMahon’s account of Jon Hamm nearly playing Cole Phelps looks back at the people behind the 2011 release. That history is separate from the present rumour. At the moment, Rockstar has confirmed no sequel, no San Francisco setting and no 2030 launch window.
Why did the L.A. Noire 2 rumour return now?
An anonymous 2023 post about Rockstar’s plans resurfaced alongside renewed attention on GTA 6. Some claims in the older post appear to overlap with later reporting, but that does not verify its separate L.A. Noire predictions.
Does Rockstar Australia’s history make a sequel more likely?
The studio worked on L.A. Noire ports and The VR Case Files before Rockstar acquired it, so it has relevant experience. The acquisition announcement does not assign it a sequel, and the team’s current project has not been confirmed.
Are San Francisco and the Zodiac Killer confirmed for a sequel?
No. Both details come from the anonymous leak. Rockstar has not announced a new L.A. Noire game, a location or a release window.
