Rockstar Games plans to support GTA Online “beyond” the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, parent company Take-Two has confirmed.
During a recent shareholders meeting (via ResetEra), Take-Two said “we will continue to support GTA Online after GTA 6 release and beyond.” Rockstar had already confirmed that GTA 6 is a single-player only game, so there won’t be a multiplayer mode when the game comes out in November. As a result, if you want your online Grand Theft Auto fix, you’ll have to divert your attention back to the original iteration of GTA Online.
Presumably there will be another iteration of GTA Online later down the line, but it’s becoming increasingly unclear how and when it will be released. Will it be bundled with GTA 6 retroactively? Will it be a standalone game that players have to buy separately?
Twitch boss Dan Clancy, however, is convinced GTA 6 multiplayer will be released in 2027. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Clancy said he’d spoken with Rockstar about what the developer has up its sleeve. “We spent a lot of time talking with Rockstar about their plans, and also helping them think about how they can engage our creators,” Clancy said. “You are going to see this big bump with GTA 6, but then an even bigger one next year when they launch multiplayer.”
Meanwhile, during the shareholders meeting, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick responded (via GamesRadar) to a question about whether the plan for PC had been affected by console shortages, particularly the PS5 Pro.
“The strategy of the company is, over time, generally speaking, to launch for any platforms for which there’s a meaningful audience,” Zelnick replied, keeping his cards close to his chest. “But that isn’t always the case, and certainly, if platforms were no longer viable, we could change that strategy.
“And I would note that the PC platform is becoming more and more important to our company over time.”
Zelnick previously said that Rockstar has historically always released its games for consoles first, suggesting a PC version of GTA 6 may follow later. How much later? It’s unclear, but GTA 5 remains a massively popular game on the platform.
Ex-Rockstar Games producer John Ricchio stated in an interview earlier this year that the studio’s continued decision to skip PC at launch wasn’t one rooted in greed. Instead, it was a result of Rockstar wanting to optimize for consoles first and then scaling up for a PC version.
“It’s always better to start with the constraints and then extend,” said Ricchio. “Because shrinking is a lot harder than extending. It’s way harder to make your game performant than it is to just be like ‘Oh, we’ve got extra room? Cool, we can deoptimize or make things more shiny.'”
Could a PC version come alongside the next version of GTA Online? It doesn’t seem out of the question if there’s going to be a sizable gap. Either way, it’s clear that Rockstar is pouring a lot of effort and focus into making GTA 6 the best single-player experience it can be without compromising other parts of the game, even if that means a staggered release of the long-term online money maker.
In related news, Rockstar Games announced Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album this morning. The soundtrack releases alongside the game on November 19 and features over 30 original songs from major mainstream artists. Six orignal songs from artists like Travis Scott, PinkPantheress, and Morgan Wallen are available to stream on Spotify right now.
