Grand Theft Auto Online will get exclusive content for both its upcoming next-gen releases and its existing PC version when it launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The next-gen versions of Rockstar Games’ ever-popular multiplayer sandbox will bring a number of improvements to GTA Online, possibly including the faster loading times that players have been begging for.
Nearly seven years after its launch, GTA Online is still being supported by Rockstar with regular patches and less frequent substantial content updates, such as the one that recently added the Diamond Casino to the game. Most of GTA Online’s recent updates fall on the smaller side, adding items and vehicles or just new challenges and bonuses for players. Rockstar promises a bigger update this summer will bring unspecified new content, but another one later this year sounds even more promising. Rockstar says it’s planning GTA Online’s biggest update ever for 2020, bringing a whole new location to the game.
Even more content is reportedly in store for GTA Online when it’s launched on the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Both next-gen consoles are getting standalone versions of GTA Online as well as Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2021. As Gamespot reports, Rockstar parent company Take Two has even more plans for the game, revealing during an earnings call that the next-gen and PC releases of GTA Online will be getting exclusive new content. It didn’t announce what that content might be, but it will be in addition to the performance and visual enhancements already known to be coming to both GTA Online and GTA 5.
With or without new content from Rockstar, GTA Online’s appeal for many players lies not in official updates, but in the interactions between players. GTA Online often goes long periods of time without any updates that really change the game, leaving players to make their own fun. They’ve become quite adept at it, too, with players performing daredevil stunts in fighter jets and on foot, and coming up with community driven challenges and events like the game’s alien invasion earlier this year. One of the latest GTA Online challenges dares players to cross the game’s entire map without dying, a feat made exponentially more difficult by players’ penchant for wanton violence.
Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online might not be the biggest draws for new console owners, but that makes it all the more interesting that Rockstar is adding new content. It’s a good way to get players to stay in the ecosystem when they make the leap to next-gen, but it does raise the question of how far in the future Grand Theft Auto 6’s release could be.
Grand Theft Auto Online is available as part of Grand Theft Auto 5 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: Gamespot