At least once a month, there's more media coverage about how Grand Theft Auto 5 continues to top sales charts, year-over-year, since the game's initial release in 2013. Since then the game has quickly cemented itself as one of the best-selling games of all time, now topping out at over 130 million units sold. Rockstar's baby has been a sales giant to the point where it's as if the publisher has found some secret formula that can't be replicated elsewhere.
Fans, pundits, and others have been questioning the lasting appeal of Grand Theft Auto as a whole, despite the fifth game selling like gangbusters. It's an interesting question, whether or not Grand Theft Auto 5 is a sign of what to expect from Rockstar Games in the future, or if it's simply just a lightning in a bottle moment for the publisher. There's plenty of evidence to the contrary, showing Rockstar simply is just very good at making games, but the question is whether or not Grand Theft Auto 5 is the peak before a fall.
The Success of Grand Theft Auto 5/Online
The fifth Grand Theft Auto game has an interesting story in terms of video games. Very quickly did this game become a smash hit, even in the early days when Grand Theft Auto Online wasn't even available or was in its beta state. The singleplayer content alone featured innovations like the three-protagonist system, along with further improvements to existing features and mechanics of the game. Even though initial sales were fantastic for Grand Theft Auto 5, the game never truly became an all-time best-seller until the blossoming of Grand Theft Auto Online. Playing the online version of the game quickly turned into this strange amalgamation of RPG and MMO progression melded with the traditional Grand Theft Auto style fans knew so well.
Grand Theft Auto 5's greatness stems from Grand Theft Auto Online, and the developers at Rockstar understood this very early on. Single-player DLC planned for Grand Theft Auto 5 was likely scrapped due to developing future updates for the wildly popular online mode instead. Grand Theft Auto Online lived up to its identity as being an entirely separate experience from Grand Theft Auto 5. Outside of the usual running from police, players could purchase their own homes, manage their own (illegal) offices and businesses, organize heists, run drug trafficking rings, buy expensive yachts, and plenty of other insane things. Progressing to the top of the Grand Theft Auto Online food chain was almost like an MMO, repeating activities consistently until leveling up to the next tier of content.
Spillover Success Into Red Dead Redemption 2
Part of that success likely spilled over into Red Dead Redemption 2's greatness as well. Don't take that the wrong way, the Red Dead series became massively popular on its own with the respectably successful first game Red Dead Redemption. The western prequel adventure of Red Dead Redemption 2 would've still thrived regardless of the level of success Grand Theft Auto 5 received. That aside, it's still hard to deny that there hasn't been an overflow of support into Rockstar's latest success. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a vastly more niche game when directly compared to Grand Theft Auto 5, yet somehow both games (within the same decade) have become some of the highest selling games of all time. Fans likely expect an established pedigree from Rockstar Games' titles now more than ever, which likely helped immensely.
Another aspect is the expectations placed on Red Dead Online thanks to Grand Theft Auto Online's success. Like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Online launched in beta but has since seen many updates steadily improving and enhancing the experience over time. Even though Red Dead Online doesn't have that same ubiquity of Grand Theft Auto there's still a dedicated fanbase playing the game, whether it's for the new class system implemented into the official game or the fan-made role-playing servers that are huge on Twitch. There's an expectation that Red Dead Online could easily expand and become just as engrossing and huge as Grand Theft Auto Online, which is likely why there's such a dedicated fanbase sticking around to see how the game evolves.
Rockstar's Immediate Future
At this point, it's like Rockstar Games cannot lose. Regardless of whether or not Red Dead Redemption 2 sold less, or even if the next Grand Theft Auto game sells "worse" than Grand Theft Auto 5, there's no way future Rockstar Games titles don't have the potential to be successful. Unless there's some kind of devastating shift in development structure, more impactful than Dan Houser's retirement from Rockstar Games, it's hard not to envision lasting success for the publisher. It's not to say Rockstar Games is invincible, but its current trajectory has been very positive for the publisher. Expectations are great now, especially with a potential Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon.
Rockstar has seen some dramatic shifts in its working environment in the years since Red Dead Redemption 2, though it's unclear how that may affect the immediate future of the publisher. With Houser leaving, along with some major culture and working condition changes at Rockstar, it's very possible the next Grand Theft Auto could come out in a vastly different state. While this may impose some uncertainty, for now Rockstar has shown nothing but promise, and that could very well extend into its next project. Fans have gotten some news about how this uncertainty could manifest into game design, but for now there's no reason to doubt the publisher.
Whatever the future holds for the next Grand Theft Auto game, or Rockstar Games in general, it doesn't seem like there's any cause for concern. Grand Theft Auto 5 may have its own respective faults, but it continues to sell extremely well for good reason. Assuming that same level of care and long-term support can come to Rockstar Games' next title, hopefully the publisher can continue its massive forward momentum.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is rumored to be in development.