Why Vice City Makes a New Online Mode for GTA 6 Seem Inevitable

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 12, 2025 2 Views 6 Min Read
Why Vice City Makes a New Online Mode for GTA 6 Seem Inevitable

Grand Theft Auto 6 is still slated for a 2025 release—something that seems slightly surprising, given how little has been shown of it. Nevertheless, gaming audiences are holding their breath for future reveals about the highly anticipated title, waiting for Rockstar to draw back the curtain on its gameplay and narrative elements.

Something that is a bit less discussed, though undoubtedly top-of-mind for Rockstar, is how GTA 6 will tie into the money-making machine that is GTA Online. Introduced in GTA 5, GTA Online has ballooned into one of gaming’s preeminent live-service success stories, maintaining a healthy and committed playerbase since its release in 2013. Consistent updates and expansions have allowed GTA Online to stay profitable, as it not only attracts new buyers (GTA Online is not free-to-play, unlike many of its contemporaries), but it also encourages existing players to purchase in-game currency. GTA Online‘s reliance on these microtransactions has made it rather controversial, especially as many Rockstar fans view it as siphoning time and resources that could be spent on new projects. Needless to say, this quasi-MMO is something of a complicated subject, so it will be interesting to see how GTA 6 influences it.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Social Media Logo Trailer

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Grand Theft Auto 6 seems to have a focus on social media, which should translate to unique gameplay opportunities in line with the series’ history.

GTA 6 Will Probably Herald a New GTA Online

Sequels to Live-Service Games Like GTA Online Are Tricky to Manage

A pillar of any live-service game is its continued development: these games are never quite finished, as they are designed to constantly evolve over the course of many years. Looking at games like GTA Online and Fortnite, it’s plain to see that they have come a long way since their launch, to the point where they are arguably different games entirely. This begs the question: what is the point of releasing a traditional sequel at all?

Indeed, most long-running live-service games seem to have no plans for a full-fledged sequel anytime soon, as this strategy would mean diverting a lot of resources and disrupting the ecosystem that has been carefully cultivated over several years. This phenomenon has led many to speculate that GTA Online will follow the same route, perhaps getting a major update once GTA 6 releases, but not much more. This would echo Rockstar’s treatment of Red Dead Online, which was apparently neglected in favor of more updates for GTA Online. But there’s one big reason why this might not be the case.

GTA Online’s Vice City Offers Multiplayer Opportunities That Shouldn’t Go To Waste

GTA Online is starting to feel a little dated, especially in the wake of Red Dead Redemption 2, which represents a massive leap forward in terms of Rockstar’s visual fidelity and attention to detail. One would assume that GTA 6 would take these strengths even further, so going back to GTA 5‘s more dated graphics, animations, et cetera, could be tough to swallow after experiencing GTA 6‘s single-player campaign.

Moreover, GTA 6‘s modernized rendition of Vice City will no doubt be highly impressive, just like GTA 5‘s Los Santos was back in 2013. Rockstar would likely not want to “waste” this new map, as it were, by leaving it behind in favor of sprucing up the much older, and likely smaller, GTA 5 map. Even if GTA 5‘s GTA Online were to get massive updates related to GTA 6, playing it would likely still feel like a step backward.

Thus, a sequel to GTA Online is likely to launch alongside GTA 6. It makes a lot of sense, for the aforementioned reasons, but that doesn’t mean that it will be a surefire victory. Circling back to Rockstar’s shortcomings with Red Dead Online, meaningful, engaging content will only be essential for this new GTA Online, but this will only be the foundation. Adapting to the changing landscape of live-service and multiplayer gaming is another hurdle GTA 6 will have to contend with.

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