Rockstar Now Describes GTA VI as a “Single Player Experience,” Raises Questions About GTA Online – WGB
Pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI are about to go live, the price has been confirmed, and Rockstar has also quietly answered one of the biggest questions surrounding the game. Kind of. What will happen to the Internet?
On Rockstar’s official pre-order page, GTA VI is currently described as a “single-player experience,” coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19. Those words are interesting because, as of now, there’s no mention of GTA Online launching alongside it.
That doesn’t mean GTA VI won’t have an online mode. Calm down, put the fork down, and walk away from the Oppressor Mk II. But it strongly suggests that Rockstar keeps the initial launch focused on Jason and Lucia’s story, rather than trying to launch a single-player game and the next season of GTA Online at the same time.
The original GTA Online was not launched on the same day as Grand Theft Auto V. GTA V arrived on September 17, 2013, while GTA Online followed a few weeks later on October 1. That launch was also, to use the technical term, complete confusion of blood for a while, as millions of servers tried to squeeze themselves into Rockstar players. Chaos reigned supreme, resulting in a surprisingly good representation of what GTA Online is like in general.
With GTA VI, the pressure will be even more absurd. This is not just another big game launch. It will likely be the biggest entertainment launch in history, and Rockstar now has to deal with an even bigger, more focused online audience than ever before in 2013.
So, yes, launching the single-player campaign first and releasing the new online component afterwards would be the safest, cleanest option.
That said, there has been one very interesting hint that an online version of GTA VI is part of the plan, even if Rockstar isn’t ready to talk about it exactly yet.
Earlier this year, reporting on the ongoing dispute between Rockstar and a group of fired employees revealed that the company was concerned about an internal discussion of a “32-player online mode” on a private Discord server. Workers and the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain say the dismissals are related to union work, while Rockstar and Take-Two continue to be fired for misconduct involving confidential information.
Either way, the important piece of information for GTA fans is that the court filing appeared to refer to the 32-player online mode attached to GTA VI. Rockstar hasn’t officially announced that mode, and 32 players won’t be a shock since GTA Online already supports similar player stats, but it does suggest that multiplayer is a big part of the plan. Shocking news.
Which makes Rockstar’s current “single-player experience” names even more interesting. It probably goes without saying that GTA VI is single-player only forever. Instead, it could mean that Rockstar is choosing not to sell the game with its online component yet.
Which begs the big question: what exactly happens to GTA Online when GTA VI arrives? There are a few possibilities.
The first, and most likely, is that Rockstar will launch GTA VI as a single-player game in November, and follow it up with a new online mode later. Maybe it comes a few weeks after launch, maybe early 2027, or maybe whenever Rockstar is confident the servers won’t explode into digital fog.
Given the reported reference to a 32-player online mode, it sounds like Rockstar has something multiplayer in the oven. The question isn’t really whether GTA VI will be online. The question is when Rockstar wants to talk about it, when it wants to launch it, and whether it will be treated as a pure sequel to GTA Online or as an evolution of the existing platform.
Rockstar suffered a data breach where stolen information was leaked. GTA Online is reported to generate approximately $498.8 million annually, far surpassing Red Dead Online, which earns $26.4 million annually. Player statistics show high engagement.
The second possibility is that the current GTA Online is simply a continuation of GTA VI for a while. GTA Online still has a huge player base, years of content, GTA+ support, and players who have invested an alarming amount of time and money into their criminal empires. Rockstar might not want to just slam the door that night. No kidding, apparently it brings in about half a billion dollars a year.
There’s at least one more reason to believe that the existing GTA Online won’t just be dropped and shot when GTA VI arrives. Earlier this year, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about the future of GTA Online and said he has “every reason to believe” Rockstar will continue to support it, pointing to its active community and how players continue to evolve as new content is added.
That’s not the same thing as Rockstar laying out the right road map. It doesn’t tell us if GTA VI’s online mode starts weeks later, months later, or under a new name. It doesn’t tell us if players will be able to transfer their criminal empire, their money, their cars, or their bad fashion choices. But it does suggest that the current GTA Online may continue to exist in its current form alongside GTA VI, at least for a while.
The third possibility is some kind of upgrade, migration, or soft reboot. Perhaps GTA Online evolves into a wider platform where Los Santos of GTA V and Leonida of GTA VI finally coexist in some way. That sounds ambitious, and perhaps a technical nightmare, but this is also Rockstar. If any studio has the money and energy to try something funny, it’s the one currently charging $80 for the world’s most anticipated game.
The company knows that GTA VI’s single-player campaign is enough to sell millions of copies on its own. It doesn’t need to reveal a complete online plan yet. In fact, holding GTA Online information might be a smart move. Let the story campaign have its moment, let the players fall in love with Vice City all over again, and bring out the online juggernaut later when the story cycle needs another kick in the teeth.
Of course, this also means that players hoping to jump right into the next generation of GTA Online one day may need to temper expectations. Based on Rockstar’s current titles, GTA VI is primarily marketed as a Jason and Lucia story.
After more than a decade of GTA Online gobbling up Rockstar’s attention like a shark with a credit card machine, there’s something reassuring about GTA VI being launched as a single-player worthy Grand Theft Auto debut. The online empire will definitely come later in another way, because Take-Two loves money and GTA Online prints things. Half a billion, to be more specific.
On your own? I think Online will actually continue in its current form for a long time. Whether that’s on its own or with the new version, I’m not sure. But I don’t think Rockstar and Take-Two want to risk shutting down something that’s going on and making enough money to fund an entire bloody country.
