Bully could be compared to the likes of the Grand Theft Auto series if it took place in a high school, as opposed to a dangerous city. Players would take on the role of protagonist and troublemaker Jimmy Hopkins as he gets dropped off by his mother at Bullworth Academy, the primary location of the game's setting. Throughout the course of the school year, the player will befriend different cliques, learn skills from different classes, and ultimately save the school from the true bully. At the time, the game was well-received by critics and fans, and a later remaster was released for Xbox 360.
Despite Jack Thompson's attempt at disallowing Bully from being shipped and sold in Florida in 2006, the ruling judge saw nothing inherently wrong with the game when he was presented with it. Though the Judge in question stated he wouldn't want his kids playing the Teen rated game, he compared Bully to late-night TV and saw nothing wrong with shipping it. Despite this ruling, Bully was banned in Brazil in 2008 before it officially released in 2016, adding to the controversy the legacy of the game has.
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Originally developed by Rockstar Vancouver, Bully became an instant hit with fans of the Grand Theft Auto and other Rockstar games. Because of its fresh take on the open-world genre, fans were hoping to see a sequel, but it never came to be. Bully: Scholarship Edition was the remaster of the PS2 version and released on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii with more classes to attend, improved graphics, eight new missions, new unlockable clothing, and a two-player minigame multiplayer mode. Despite the vast improvements over the original, the PC port was received poorly due to multiple crashing issues, poor controls, and an FPS cap of 30.
After work on Bully, Rockstar Vancouver collaborated with other Rockstar studios to create Max Payne 3 which was released in 2012. After this, Rockstar Vancouver was merged with Rockstar Toronto and renamed Rockstar Games Toronto. During this time, the Canadian studio helped work on Grand Theft Auto 5 and eventually ported it to PC. Rockstar Games Toronto has done a lot of porting in its past, so it's no surprise to see them used for their experience to create top-quality ports. Some of the ports they've done are Grand Theft Auto 4 for PC, Manhunt 2 for Nintendo Wii, and Max Payne for the PS2 and Xbox.
After work on Grand Theft Auto 5, Rockstar Games Toronto helped develop Red Dead Redemption 2 for its 2018 release. It seems possible that the Canadian studio is too busy collaborating with other Rockstar Studios to work on any new entry into the Bully series. If this is true, it's a real shame, because the Bully series is one of the more unique iterations of the GTA-like formula. For the 10th year anniversary of Bully, fans were rewarded with a port of the game to Android and iOS. It isn't the best outcome fans were hoping for, but perhaps Bully will see the light of day someday.
Even though it's been over a decade since the last iteration of a Bully game in its remaster, Rockstar hasn't seemed to have forgotten about the series. Still, a Bully sequel isn't out of the realm of possibility just yet. Though gone are the days where Rockstar Games has put out multiple great games on one console generation, now it seems like Rockstar Games is focused on one major AAA release per console. Red Dead Redemption 2 was built for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and while it is very possible Rockstar's next game could also be available on those consoles, it's more likely their next game will be designed for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in mind.
There were rumors circulating that a Bully sequel had been scrapped a number of times, first in 2010 and then later on in 2013. Then a credible Rockstsar leaker Tex2 suggested Bully 2 may have been in development upwards of 2015 before the studio possibly had to help develop Red Dead Redemption 2. Though this doesn't change anything now, the worst-case scenario for Bully fans is to wait until 2026, and hope that Rockstar will do something for the game's 20th anniversary.
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If fans of the series were rewarded with a sequel, what could that sequel possibly look like? It's been almost 15 years since Bully was released, and Rockstar has made many improvements to its open-world formula. The map that players can explore in Bully was smaller than Grand Theft Auto 3's, clocking in at a around five square kilometers. Though despite the small sandbox size, Bully still had a lot of activities to do, mainly within Bullworth Academy.
Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 both have massive game worlds, and if even a fraction of their size was represented in Bully 2, it would expand on the original Bully by a lot. If players play as a youngster once again in the hypothetical sequel, what could they do with so much space? Perhaps a rival school in a different part of town could be interesting. This would add a whole new layer to the dynamic of the story, akin to the rivalry between the kids from Springfield and Shelbyville Elementary in The Simpsons.
It would be expected that a Bully sequel would include classes with minigames for players to take part in, with troublesome antics between classes and activities. One important aspect of Bully was quickly getting reprimanded for bullying, and that would probably make a return. A player management system could appear as a game mechanic, where the main character needs to manage levels of Strength, Coolness factor, and Weight based on what they decide to eat. This was seen in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and could add a new layer of depth to the gameplay.
The possibilities with a Bully sequel seem endless, now that Rockstar has defined their formula for how their open-world games play out. They could have a lot of fun with a new entry into the Bully series, but only time will tell. Perhaps some news before the game's 20th anniversary in 2026 wouldn't be too much of a stretch.
Bully 2 was rumored to be in development.