As we get closer to the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, fans of Grand Theft Auto Online have been left wondering about the fate of the multiplayer title. During a recent shareholder meeting, however, Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive has said that support for Grand Theft Auto Online will continue “beyond” the release of GTA 6.
The company noted that GTA 6’s launch will be entirely focused around its single-player content. To that end, “We will continue to support GTA Online after GTA 6 release and beyond,” said the company, essentially reaffirming what its CEO, Strauss Zelnick, had said back in February.
This indicates that Rockstar isn’t quite ready to release an Online mode for Grand Theft Auto 6 yet, and we might see a repeat of what happened with Grand Theft Auto 5, which saw the release of Grand Theft Auto Online a couple of weeks after the single-player base game came out back in 2013. There is also the slim possibility that the companies are waiting for the inevitable PC launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 before GTA Online 2 is released.
Interestingly, Zelnick also spoke about the company’s plans for PC as a platform going forward. As caught by GamesRadar, he said that Take-Two always wants to “launch for any platforms for which there’s a meaningful audience.” He went on to say that “that isn’t always the case, and certainly, if platforms were no longer viable, we could change that strategy. And I would note that the PC platform is becoming more and more important to our company over time.”
As for Grand Theft Auto Online’s sequel, CEO of livestreaming service Twitch, Dan Clancy, has expressed the belief that it is slated for release in 2027. In an interview earlier this week, Clancy said that his belief comes from discussions he had with Rockstar about the company’s plans for Grand Theft Auto 6.
“We spent a lot of time talking with Rockstar about their plans, and also helping them think about how they can engage our creators. You are going to see this big bump with GTA 6, but then an even bigger one next year when they launch multiplayer.”
Reports from last month have indicated that Take-Two Interactive is primarily focused on the single-player aspects of Grand Theft Auto 6. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the company is “only talking about GTA 6 in terms of the single-player portion, which will not presumably have recurring revenue.” He went on to note that Take-Two is “not planning to talk anytime soon about what the new GTA Online will look like and what that recurring spend will look like.”
While neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has announced any plans for a follow-up to Grand Theft Auto Online, it is quite likely that work on the project has been happening, especially when you take into account the continued success of GTA Online since its 2013 launch. The companies are likely waiting for the dust to settle following the release of GTA 6 before they start talking about GTA Online 2.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
