// PC GAMER — GAMING
We should all be happy that GTA 6 isn't launching with multiplayer
A GTAO sequel is almost certainly coming, but the singleplayer campaign should be the priority.
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Grand Theft Auto 6 now feels quite a bit more tangible—preorders are live, and November is right around the corner. But amid this flurry of information and unrelenting hype came a bit of bad news for the GTA Online crowd: GTA 6 is being pushed as a "singleplayer experience".
Despite its impending launch, there's actually been precious little information about the next phase of the madcap online world. Granted, there's been precious little information about the game period. Rockstar knows it doesn't need to give anything away. It could ignore the pleas for a gameplay trailer right up until launch if it wanted to.
I've been getting up to no good in Rockstar's off-kilter vision of America since 1997 and never felt it needed multiplayer—that is, until I saw all the new ways to play that GTA Online offered. From the madcap co-op shenanigans to the incredibly dedicated roleplaying communities, Rockstar and, critically, GTAO's players created something genuinely impressive. But that doesn't mean we need to rush towards an online sequel. It deserves more time to cook.
Regardless, we know some new version of the online mode must be coming. GTAO is why people are still playing this 13-year-old game, and while Red Dead Online never exploded in popularity like its predecessor, this doesn't feel like something Rockstar is going to give up on—certainly not after it acquired Cfx.re, the team behind FiveM.
So we can reasonably assume that GTAO 2 will launch later—perhaps to coincide with the arrival of GTA 6 on PC, which really is the home of GTA roleplaying. There's no indication when that might happen, though. This is classic Rockstar. It's a closed book, and it doesn't matter that PC is GTA's most popular individual platform, because the near-mythical reputation of this company means it doesn't need to use the conventional marketing playbook.
Let's face it, there's also probably a more insidious reason: If you own both a PC and a console and are eager for GTA, you'll almost certainly be double dipping. I know I will be. Despite Sony's claim that GTA 6 will be best on PlayStation 5, we know the PC version will be far superior. But the allure, the FOMO, they are too strong.
This doesn't just benefit me; it benefits the GTA Online fans as well.
As a journalist and critic, I naturally wish Rockstar loosened its lips a little, and I have a real problem with it selling a $100 game without letting prospective players actually know what it will be like to play. I am, however, not remotely fazed by the initial lack of multiplayer; indeed, I think it's a good thing.