The upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 can be said to be one of the most anticipated titles in the history of the video game industry. With the massive and commendable longevity of its predecessor, many are assuming that the scale and ambition of the upcoming game are going to have to be utterly massive.
As well as its core gameplay and setting, the nature of the humor within Grand Theft Auto 6 has interestingly been a huge point of discussion among the title's fan base. From what is already known about the direction of GTA 6's humor, the contemporary relevance of things like cryptocurrency and the Metaverse will likely make them the subject of a lot of mocking humor in the massive new title.
The New Direction of Grand Theft Auto's Comedy
Essentially since its inception, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has been renowned for the level of humor and consistent comedy that it possesses alongside its more serious narratives and themes. More often than not, the majority of this humor stems from presenting caricatures of society, with the popular franchise cities of Los Santos and Liberty City being exaggerated interpretations of Los Angeles and New York respectively, as just one example.
Given the long periods of time in between mainline franchise releases, any new GTA title is afforded huge swathes of new contemporary culture and real-world societal shifts to explore and often mock within its narrative and world-building. This was done to great effect in the massively successful Grand Theft Auto 5, with the series perhaps showcasing its most on-the-nose level of mocking different aspects of society within the well-received title.
That being said, one of the main reported aspects of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 indicates a change in humor for the franchise, with the new tile likely maintaining a new ethos of only punching up instead of down. While this news has been met positively by some fans, it remains that the title will be a lot more limited in the avenues for its comedy should it thoroughly adhere to this reported new framework. Bearing this in mind, it seems that the more modern economic trends of cryptocurrency and the advent of the Metaverse would be the perfect subject to poke fun at in Grand Theft Auto 6.
Crypto and the Metaverse in Grand Theft Auto 6
By now, many are familiar with the concept of cryptocurrency and the Metaverse, with virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum long dominating huge swathes of the news cycle from an economic perspective. While there are huge communities surrounding the massive array of cryptocurrencies that currently exist, crypto as a concept is often chastised and mocked for the unstable and often wildly unpredictable trends that these currencies can go through.
With other crypto-related concepts like NFTs also being a huge source of controversy, so much so that companies like Mojang have publicly stated a lack of intention to become involved in the space, it is clear that crypto is an easy target to mock for GTA 6, especially given the disdain for it within gaming. This negativity additionally extends to things like the metaverse, which often goes hand in hand with crypto and digitally showcasing things like the aforementioned market of NFTs.
Given how influential figures of gaming like Phil Spencer have voiced negative opinions on the metaverse, this too seems like a perfect topic for satire in GTA 6. Not only would this brand of humor capitalize on a truly topical aspect of modern society, but commentary on cryptocurrency and the Metaverse would also broadly fall into the reported new framework of punching up instead of down that GTA 6 is set to follow.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently in development.