The online multiplayer side of Grand Theft Auto 5, Grand Theft Auto Online, is hugely popular but many fans are still eager to play through some story-based DLC for the game. Players have wondered for years what happened to the GTA 5 story DLC that developer Rockstar Games had been looking into at one point.
In a new interview, Rockstar Games revealed the key reasons why that story DLC hasn't happened. Rockstar's director of design Imran Sarwar explains that although Rockstar loves single-player "more than anything," GTA 5's single-player game "was absolutely massive and very, very complete. It was three games in one." Not only did the next-gen versions of the game take "a year of everyone's time to get right," but because GTA Online had so much potential, developing the multiplayer side of things "also sucked up a lot of resources."
But next-gen development and the huge success of GTA Online aren't the only reasons why story DLC has never been released. Sarwar also points to the "other games" that Rockstar has in development, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being singled out. Not only does the upcoming game have a pretty significant story component according to the latest trailer, but Red Dead Redemption 2 also has online multiplayer.
On top of this, Red Dead Redemption 2 has already been delayed until next year, after initially being announced for a late 2017 release. This highlights what Sarwar is saying – the Rockstar Games team just isn't big enough to create DLC expansions while also crafting these brand new game releases. "At Rockstar, we will always have bandwidth issues because we are perfectionists and to make huge complex games takes a lot of time and resources," adds the developer.
However, just because GTA 5 missed out on story DLC, that doesn't mean that other Rockstar Games will miss out on narrative expansions too. Sarwar says "[for GTA 5] we did not feel single-player expansions were either possible or necessary, but we may well do them for future projects", meaning that even more cowboy action could be in order for players of Red Dead Redemption 2.
That's delightful news for fans of Rockstar's projects who only ever want more from the developer, but it's also good news given the current games industry climate. EA was recently slammed after it announced that its single-player Star Wars game would become more of a connected title, leading some to mourn the death of story-based games. The industry does seem to be shifting away from story games, but Rockstar seems committed to keeping the genre alive for longer.
Source: Game Informer