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Will GTA 6 Have a Singleplayer Story?


GTA promo
Credit: Rockstar

Rockstar has finally announced GTA 6, or rather they've announced that work is underway on the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Unfortunately, we don't have many, or any really, official details about the game, but speculation has been well underway for years. There's reason to think GTA 6 may not have a traditional singleplayer component. In this article, we'll explain why.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Announcement

GTA promo
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Credit: Rockstar

Recently, GTA 6 was officially confirmed by Rockstar, but no release date, footage, or even specific details about the project were revealed. However, notable leakers and insiders have been aware of GTA 6's development for some time.

According to the rumors and leaks, GTA 6 is still very much being worked on and isn't near release. Don't expect the game to come out later on in 2022, and even 2023 is likely to be a stretch. Generally, GTA 6 is projected to release somewhere in 2024, so there are a few years of waiting to be done in all likelihood.

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Theoretically, GTA 6 could release as soon as 2023 and as late as 2025, but ultimately, it's going to be a wait, and we're going to have to wait for Rockstar to reveal more official information about the project before we can actually expect the game to come out at a certain time.

We also don't necessarily know if the next Grand Theft Auto game will actually be GTA 6. Rockstar hasn't confirmed that GTA 6 is in development, they've confirmed that the next entry in the GTA franchise is being worked on. This could mean the game won't actually be GTA 6 and could instead come with a subtitle.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has had games with subtitles before, like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. These were mainline games in the GTA franchise, but they weren't numbered entries. It's not that they were spinoffs or smaller projects, they just had more of a dedicated aesthetic.

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It's possible the next Grand Theft Auto game will function like this. And given the ubiquity of GTA online, it may be a subtitled game that ties more directly into the online Grand Theft Auto experience. It's even possible the game could function as a soft reboot for the franchise and simply be called Grand Theft Auto.

Grand Theft Auto Online, No More Singleplayer?

GTA promo
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Credit: Rockstar

Grand Theft Auto V wasn't just Grand Theft Auto V, it was also GTA Online, which very quickly grew to be its whole own experience, completely different from the singleplayer sandbox world of the game. GTA 5, as a whole property, went on to make more money than any other game in history because of this diversity of content.

But because of the enormous, nearly unlimited success of GTA Online, the future of GTA is very much in flux. It's not just that GTA Online was successful, it's the most successful project Rockstar has ever worked on by a mile. It was such a success that the company is inevitably going to continue.

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A multiplayer component is inevitably going to be a major part of the next Grand Theft Auto game. And in all likelihood, this multiplayer experience will serve the same niche as GTA Online in a newer, bigger, and more graphically advanced world. The legacy of the next Grand Theft Auto game, just like GTA 5, is inevitably going to be determined by its multiplayer component.

With the way games are going, focusing more on live service elements and multiplayer experiences, an online-only Grand Theft Auto is a very real possibility. Now, since the legacy of GTA as a franchise is bound up in singleplayer, it's probably not likely that there will be no singleplayer component at all, but it's a distinct possibility.

Doubtlessly, a longterm supported online component replete with microtransactions and all kinds of backend monetization will come to the next GTA, but to what extent isn't certain. Rockstar has continued to dedicate significant development time to singleplayer experiences, like Red Dead Redemption 2.

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The Future of Grand Theft Auto

GTA promo
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Credit: Rockstar

The space between Grand Theft Auto releases has expanded exponentially over time. Rockstar, as a studio, has branched out significantly beyond what was originally their only IP. And since GTA 5's launch way, way back when in 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, it's been an astonishing 9 years, and we're still years away from GTA 6.

GTA 6, or whatever it's actually called, will almost inevitably come packed with a decade of post-launch support. Grand Theft Auto games are now so enormously difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to produce, it doesn't make even make sense for Rockstar to release one every few years, even if these games weren't as successful as GTA 5.

Grand Theft Auto has largely evolved beyond its roots as a reliable IP to put out new projects in, and now, Grand Theft Auto is like World of Warcraft. It's an ongoing, neverending experience that wants to slowly sell you new things and add new content to the same fundamental package.

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Accordingly, we can likely expect only a couple more Grand Theft Auto games before fans start to die of old age, but these games are going to be bigger and longer-lasting than any GTA before them. Now, the launch of a new Grand Theft Auto is destined to be a milestone moment in all of gaming.

A special time where something truly revolutionary and never seen before, ever, gets into the hands of gamers everywhere and changes gaming as a whole. Gone are regular releases, and here is the Cyberpunk schedule.

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