Grand Theft Auto On-line began as a mere aspect attraction in Grand Theft Auto 5 earlier than it expanded into its personal colossal beast. GTA On-line has since made billions of {dollars} and is often up to date with sizable new chapters that embody cameos from real-world celebrities like Dr. Dre. The sport is now an MMO in its personal proper, serving as a alternative for the single-player DLC chapters that Rockstar used to launch. However with Grand Theft Auto 6 on the distant horizon, GTA On-line gamers are beginning to sweat a bit.
My associates and I’ve all sunk over a decade into GTA On-line; I’ve personally performed on and off since round 2013. All of us began as humble drug sellers, choosing up packages from the Southside and making a couple of hundred bucks at a time. Now, we’re all multimillionaires, rolling round in tremendous automobiles, proudly owning nightclubs, arcades, and splendid residential suites. If we wish a change of tempo, we will go pull a heist on a on line casino or crime lord’s personal villa, or choose some missions from our large underground bunker.
Few dwell on-line video games have been trucking for this lengthy. For each Warframe or World of Warcraft, there are a dozen video games which have both quietly entered upkeep mode or shut down completely. GTA On-line is even nonetheless being up to date.
Nevertheless, Rockstar hasn’t come near saying any particulars on an internet recreation mode for the following recreation, and we’re nonetheless a 12 months out from even getting the core marketing campaign of Grand Theft Auto 6. (Polygon has reached out to Rockstar for clarification and can replace if we obtain a response.) The result’s that gamers of each GTA On-line and personal role-play servers have to sit down, wait, and speculate. In some methods, it’s an thrilling proposition — the soar between the physics and graphics of GTA 5 and Pink Useless Redemption 2 was large, and presumably we’ll see much more enhancements within the subsequent GTA. However the query stays: What occurs to all of the progress that gamers have presently earned in GTA On-line?
Picture: Rockstar Video games
“I’ve been taking part in GTA On-line for years, and between Prime unlocks and grinding, I’ve gotten many of the great things,” says Norrin, a GTA On-line fan I spoke to by way of Discord. “I’m OK with saying goodbye to companies and automobiles, however I’ve spent extra time with my on-line man than I’ve with Michael or Trevor. I would like that to imply one thing.”
A serious distinction between GTA On-line and its opponents is that every thing takes place within the state of San Andreas. It has a big map to discover, from the town of Los Santos as much as the quieter communities of Sandy Shores and Paleto Bay. Whereas different video games take the participant to new fantasy continents or realms, Rockstar unlocks extra of the map for the participant once they purchase shell firms, actual property, and felony enterprises. That is the usual life cycle of a MMO character; you begin as a bit man, and finally develop into a strong determine aboard a flying bike with heat-seeking missiles.
Sometimes, an MMO ends on account of financial or growth components. However GTA On-line, each default and modded, is so wildly standard that the lights are nonetheless on and content material continues to be coming.
“I totally count on a wipe, and I don’t actually care,” says OneTwoZero, one other fan who boasts a playtime of 1000’s of hours. “I wiped my progress transferring between consoles earlier than, I’ve misplaced progress to bugs and server points. For me, the technological enhancements that we’re going to see with [Grand Theft Auto] 6 outstrip any form of loss I might take.”
Picture: Rockstar Video games
“I really like Rockstar’s map design and world-building, clearly. I’ve spent tons of of hours in San Andreas,” Artie, one other GTA On-line role-player, informed Polygon. “However for me, a very powerful factor is the individuals I play with and the tales we inform. I don’t care what occurs with the sequel so long as I can preserve utilizing it for role-play.”
The Grand Theft Auto franchise is at all times topic to leaks — actual and imaginary — which helps create an air of uncertainty across the subsequent recreation. Even the sport’s modded group, taking part in outdoors Rockstar’s sandbox, has trigger for concern. Rockstar Video games acquired Cfx.re, the staff behind Grand Theft Auto’s hottest mod, in 2023. Cfx.re runs FiveM, a platform that enables gamers to launch into customized role-play servers which might be curated by group groups, each hobbyist and for revenue. Rockstar mentioned on the time that the funding would “assist them discover new methods to assist this unimaginable group and enhance the companies they supply to their builders and gamers.”
“I’m excited for the technical upgrades and what that may imply for role-play,” says Artie. “I feel it’ll be simpler to get individuals into the interest, and there’ll be extra actions we will arrange in recreation. However I fear that Rockstar will cost for entry. Wish to play a Bike Membership? Pay $15 for the belongings. Wish to begin a detective company? Pay Rockstar to allow it in your server. We’ll all need to restart our tales for Vice Metropolis at any time when the FiveM server for that’s prepared, however I’m afraid that it’ll have a subscription price or a price ticket connected.”
The opportunity of restarting contemporary isn’t unprecedented; Rockstar has wiped participant progress earlier than whereas migrating between platforms. Different MMORPGs have needed to cope with resets. Most famously, Last Fantasy 14 burned the earlier model of the sport down with a magical apocalypse. However the state of Los Santos is a bit more mundane, regardless of the flying bikes and nuclear bunkers, and that form of magic-bullet answer is a bit trickier to move off. How do you keep the funding, monetary or emotional, that gamers have put into the sport whereas carrying over into a brand new entry within the franchise? Rockstar might want to thread the needle after Grand Theft Auto 6 is launched, and failure to take action might sink an enormously worthwhile and profitable spinoff.
“All I hope is that my man will get send-off,” says Norrin. “After he’s triggered a lot chaos, he deserves to go down swinging.”