Rockstar Games is in an interesting position right now. It is currently witnessing the next generation of leaders stepping up to refill the shoes of former management, with the announcement that founder of the studio (and co-creator of both the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises) Dan Houser will be leaving Rockstar just earlier this week.
It is also now almost seven years since the studio released Grand Theft Auto 5 and its extremely successful included mode Grand Theft Auto Online, meaning fans are eagerly anticipating some sort of update on the franchise’s future eventually. Additionally, because Grand Theft Auto Online is now just a game-as-service game a la Destiny, its future is a little unclear as Rockstar could just as easily, but not likely, make the online mode separate from the release of the rumored (but highly anticipated) Grand Theft Auto 6 and still have it be successful.
Regarding that game, not much is known about Grand Theft Auto 6 or its release date which has been a subject of popular rumors but GTA 6 would be the perfect opportunity to revitalize GTA Online for a number of reasons.
GTA Online Might Be Peaking
Going by its current popularity, one might find it slightly unbelievable to think that Grand Theft Auto Online was initially not very well received when it launched. Although GTA 5 launched without any major problems, GTA Online was riddled with network and gameplay issues both of the times it launched (at first a few weeks after GTA 5 on PS3 and Xbox 360 then again on PS4 and Xbox One a year later).
Rockstar eventually got a handle on the entire situation and shaped GTA Online into the everlasting money printer that it is today. Amazingly, because of GTA Online, GTA 5 continues to be in the NPD list of top 10 highest selling games almost every month since its release (which was 76 months ago). But time can still be a curse for video games and GTA 5 is a game that launched on hardware from 2005. The declining number of DLC updates over the years is another indication of the state of the game.
GTA Online went from having eight major updates in 2015 to just the two major Diamond Casino updates in 2019. This could be due to a lot of things. Rockstar could be consolidating its release plans, it could be saving up resources as it moves on to its next big project, or the reason could be something as downbeat as the studio is simply running out of ideas.
In any case, a brand new blockbuster entry in the franchise (in the form of GTA 6) would surely give GTA Online a huge boost, especially in the PS5 and Xbox Series X age.
GTA 6 Gives Rockstar a Chance to Dominate PS5 and Xbox One
As previously implied, the PS3 and Xbox 360 came out in the mid-2000s and were the consoles that Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on. With a new console generation on the horizon, GTA 6 would give Rockstar the opportunity to station GTA Online as the premiere PS5 and Xbox Series X multiplayer title. Although GTA Online is still one of the biggest games ever, it unfortunately released during the tail end of the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation.
The PS4 and Xbox One ports remedied that, but if GTA 6 releases within the first few years of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, then it would be the generation-defining title all throughout the consoles’ life cycles. It wouldn’t go without competition though. The newest type of game to come out in the past decade is the aforementioned game-as-service type. Companies, like Gearbox with Godfall, have gotten a head start on the new generation with games already claiming to be the next big game-as-service title.
Rockstar, as the name implies, doesn’t need to rush to the market to get a piece of it but putting out GTA 6 say, during the 10th anniversary of GTA 5 in 2023 or earlier, would help it get the foothold on the industry that it currently has with GTA Online.
Grand Theft Auto Online is available now.