Rockstar Games has announced the next big content update for GTA Online, featuring the return of GTA 5's Franklin Clinton alongside rapper Dr. Dre. The new GTA Online update will give insight into what Franklin has been up to following the events of Grand Theft Auto 5's story, as well as provide new opportunities to cause chaos and make money in San Andreas. This will also be Dr. Dre's second in-universe appearance after a brief cameo in 2020's Cayo Perico Heist update.
Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg teased that Dr. Dre was working on a new GTA game, leading to speculation that the rapper was working with Rockstar on Grand Theft Auto 6. While there's still a chance that could happen given the two have seemingly formed a close relationship, it's now clear that Snoop Dogg was referencing the newly-announced GTA Online update. It's the second substantial content drop for the long-running game this year and will close out Rockstar's 2021 with style.
As revealed by Rockstar Games, the new GTA Online update, titled "The Contract", will bring back Franklin Clinton, Chop the Dog, and Lamar as they attempt to help Dr. Dre track down his missing phone, which contains unreleased music. The new update will include new tracks from Dr. Dre, a new radio station, weapons, quality of life updates, and much more. Dr Dre's inclusion in GTA Online leaked multiple times ahead of the official reveal, but it's been unclear up until now just how big his role would be. Rockstar has promised more details on the update leading up to its release on December 15, but for now, there's a teaser trailer to tide players over.
Rockstar Games has slowed down on new GTA Online content and updates over the last several years as it has turned its attention to the release of other titles including 2018's Red Dead Redemption 2, the recently-released GTA trilogy, and possibly GTA 6. The developer has been releasing roughly two big GTA Online updates a year, allowing time to create substantial new content that brings lapsed players back and keeps current players engaged. One of the larger updates of 2021 was the GTA Online Los Santos Tuners which released this summer. The new content saw the addition of missions, races, a social hub, and more.
As well as allegedly working on the as-of-yet unconfirmed GTA 6, Rockstar is also planning to rerelease GTA 5 in 2022 for PS5 and Xbox Series X. The rerelease will include a number of enhancements and new content for new-generation consoles, but Rockstar has remained tight-lipped on many of the specifics. GTA Online will continue to get updates with the new version, but it's unclear for how long or how big they'll be. As of right now, the next version of GTA 5 is expected to launch in March 2022, but no specific day has yet been announced.
Source: Rockstar Games