Grand Theft Auto 5 cannot be faulted for its longevity. After all these years, the game's quality holds up and it still retains a lot of regular players. Rockstar managed to make Grand Theft Auto 5 one of the best-selling games in the industry, which speaks volumes about its reception and appeal. Naturally, though, GTA fans don't just want to coast on GTA 5 forever; they want to know when Rockstar will release Grand Theft Auto 6. Fans have spent years demanding the fabled next installation in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, which has the opportunity to mark a new chapter in the franchise's history by trying new things in the wake of the previous game's overwhelming success.
Recent reports about Grand Theft Auto 6 suggest that the game won't be out for a long time, though. Rockstar's silence about the next game indicates that too, but it's still surprising to learn that many years could pass before the next GTA comes out. After all, Grand Theft Auto 5 is almost eight years old. Ironically, though, GTA 5 is probably the best tool Rockstar has for entertaining fans of the franchise until Grand Theft Auto 6 is ready. It's probably not necessary for Rockstar to make another game in order to appease fans until GTA 6 is out.
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It's frankly a little odd to hear how long it could be before Grand Theft Auto 6 releases. Rumors about it have floated around for years, but now fans have reason to believe that there's much more development ahead than expected. According to several sources, Grand Theft Auto 6 might not release until 2025. One would expect that Rockstar would be a little further along in replacing an eight-year-old game than that, but apparently GTA 6 just needs that kind of development time. While ultimately patience is for the best, one wonders how Rockstar will hold the attention of GTA fans in the meantime.
Rockstar certainly has the option of reviving an old IP. For instance, fans of Rockstar's old high school action-adventure title Bully wonder if Bully 2 could get released within the next couple of years. Bully and Grand Theft Auto have more than enough themes in common that it could amuse the GTA fandom in the meantime. Reports suggest Bully 2 was once in development but got canceled, which is why Rockstar hasn't acknowledged Bully 2 in years.
If Rockstar canceled Bully 2 years ago and hasn't talked about it since, odds are low that the developer is suddenly going to announce its return. For one thing, Bully's fandom would want a strong and ambitious sequel. It's been 15 years since the first game came out, so Bully 2 wouldn't be accepted as just a rehashing of the first game's concepts with better graphics and a few next-gen advancements. Grand Theft Auto 6 wouldn't benefit from a Bully game quickly put out to tide over fans; if anything, it'd reflect poorly on Rockstar. The same logic makes sudden remakes or remasters of GTA games unlikely as appetizers for fans before GTA 6 is done. After all, if Rockstar is really working on GTA 6, it's probably putting as many franchise resources on that as possible.
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Rockstar doesn't want to just stop producing content until it finishes Grand Theft Auto 6, of course. It needs a way to amuse fans, to keep GTA in the heads of those fans, and possibly even a gateway for marketing GTA 6 once it gets to that stage of development. Luckily, Rockstar already has access to all of those things. Grand Theft Auto Online is a very active and well-liked aspect of GTA 5 that's still receiving solid updates. Grand Theft Auto Online, the multiplayer component of the game, got its largest update ever at the end of 2020 in the form of the Cayo Perico Heist. That update came out six years after GTA Online first launched, proving that Rockstar is still willing to invest major resources into entertaining fans of the multiplayer mode.
That seems like a sufficient way for Rockstar to put out content while it develops and perfects Grand Theft Auto 6. Updates similar to Cayo Perico would go a long way to keeping GTA Online afloat for a few more years until the game is done. It certainly doesn't hurt that Red Dead Online is also alive and well, offering Rockstar a second venue to do the same thing. These multiplayer venues were clearly created with longevity in mind, so Rockstar should be able to comfortably coast on regular updates for these modes instead of frantically developing and releasing a new game to make up for GTA 6's distant release. Diligence, rather than extravagance, is key in keeping Rockstar prevalent while it works on the new game. It's okay to take a while with GTA 6 as long as it's equally careful to release regular, satisfying content for GTA Online and Red Dead Online fans to enjoy.
Grand Theft Auto 5's ability to keep releasing on new platforms makes it Rockstar's Skyrim. Whenever the game is optimized for new consoles, it remains a classic. GTA 5 is on the way for PS5 and Xbox Series X, which could bring in a few extra players on GTA Online, making for another bump of player engagement. The port to next-gen consoles might actually be a sign that Rockstar really does plan to lean on GTA Online for a few more years. Regardless, GTA 5 on new consoles will benefit more from continued GTA Online expansion than from improvements to the single-player alone.
At the end of the day, though, all the potential uses of GTA 5 are just stalling for the inexorable release of GTA 6. There's no way that Rockstar can keep releasing the same game forever. Bethesda proved that with the aforementioned Skyrim when it finally announced The Elder Scrolls 6 was in development. Even if it needs a few more years, fans should take heart in the thought that Grand Theft Auto 6 is almost certainly closer than ever. For now, the Grand Theft Auto fanbase will just have to spend a little more time on the franchise's multiplayer servers to get their fill.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is rumored to be in development.
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