Highlights
- Rockstar Games' 10th-anniversary event for Grand Theft Auto 5 disappoints fans with a lack of new single-player content, highlighting the company's shift towards multiplayer updates.
- The celebration focuses primarily on GTA Online, offering exclusive outfits, a new vehicle, and themed weapon finishes, but fails to deliver on expectations for a substantial anniversary celebration.
- The scaled-down nature of the event may indicate that Rockstar Games is directing its resources towards the development of GTA 6, potentially setting the stage for future announcements.
Rockstar Games' 10th-anniversary event for Grand Theft Auto 5 seems to have left the fans wanting more. As a groundbreaking title that has set industry benchmarks and shaped player expectations, Grand Theft Auto 5 has maintained a robust player base hungry for additional content and expansions that never seem to come.
The special event, designed to commemorate this milestone, features a variety of perks and add-ons primarily for GTA Online, a hub for engaging co-op missions and heists and game mode that requires GTA 5 for installation. Exclusive outfits inspired by the game’s main characters—Michael, Franklin, and Trevor—are on offer, as is a new vehicle, the Bravado Hotring Hellfire. Themed weapon finishes and increased rewards for missions related to Lamar and Trevor make up the rest of the anniversary event.
However, the event's offerings have shined a spotlight on the lack of new single-player content. This is particularly notable when compared to DLC packs Rockstar launched for GTA 4, such as The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Given GTA 5's astounding sales of over 185 million copies, fans had high hopes for a more substantial anniversary celebration. This focus on multiplayer over single-player content is not new, however, similar with the decisions to forgo single-player expansions in favor of multiplayer updates, as with Red Dead Redemption 2's DLC expansions that never came.
While Rockstar has a history of launching game-changing DLCs, the absence of single-player content in GTA 5 seems more like a rule than an exception at this point. The company has shifted its focus to games as a service model, primarily leveraging GTA Online as the main vehicle for delivering new content, at least for the time being. This strategy has been effective in keeping fans of the franchise engaged with content and events but has also disappointed a segment of fans who prefer the game's single-player mode and are still anxiously awaiting new content for the main game.
The scaled-down nature of the celebration could be a move from Rockstar Games to keep the community's attention directed toward future projects, such as the yet-to-be-dated GTA 6. It may be a tactic to maintain engagement without revealing too much, potentially setting the stage for future announcements.
The restrained size of the event might indicate where Rockstar Games is currently investing its resources. By focusing on a modest anniversary celebration, hopefully the company is channeling all of its creative and financial assets into the development of its next blockbuster title. This could set the stage for an imminent GTA 6 announcement, which some fans expect to happen in the latter part of 2023.
Grand Theft Auto 5 is available now for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
