Valve Veteran Expresses Doubt Over GTA VI Online Transition Success

Rockstar Games faces a major challenge ahead.

GTA Online, the multiplayer mode for GTA V, has entertained players for many years and, as a leak showed, continues to generate a lot of money for Rockstar Games and Take-Two. The new installment in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto VI, is expected to release this year, and some players believe a “sequel” will eventually appear for the multiplayer as well.

However, it remains unclear how the developers plan to convince players who have already invested a significant amount of time and money into GTA Online to transition to a hypothetical GTA VI Online.

Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek recently discussed this topic, arguing that finding an answer to this question will become a massive problem for Rockstar Games:

So, everyone is talking about Grand Theft Auto VI, but no one is discussing the real problem the developers are going to face. That huge problem that will inevitably arise—how they are going to pull players from GTA Online into GTA VI Online. I haven’t seen Rockstar comment on this issue at all yet.

Faliszek currently sees several potential options. For example, GTA V Online could simply be shut down, but that would cause outrage. Another approach would be to launch GTA VI Online as part of the current multiplayer and gradually transition the audience to the new version by offering players bonuses:

Are they just going to kill [shut down] GTA V Online? Or will it be a unified project where players are gradually transitioned to the new version with the ability to get upgrades? Maybe you will be able to play in both versions? That would be madness. But what are they even planning to do? It’s absolute chaos.

He noted that the industry has already seen examples where developers replaced an old game with a new one, which caused a negative reaction:

Moving people [to another project] is very difficult, because many do not realize: someone bought GTA V for literally half a dollar and is now playing online for free. And what will GTA VI be able to offer online that GTA V doesn’t have? We all understand that the main innovation is improved monetization. And they will have to figure out how to drag you into this “improved” monetization.

According to Faliszek, Rockstar Games itself does not yet have an exact answer to this question, but understands that the audience might react negatively to their decision. For this reason, the Valve veteran believes marketing efforts are focusing solely on the single-player component of GTA VI, while the decision regarding GTA Online has been postponed:

I think that’s why they are postponing the resolution of this issue until after the game’s release. They are saying, “Oh no, no, the release will only have the single-player game.” Because they don’t want any negativity surrounding the release regarding what they plan to do next. They need you to buy the game, enter the ecosystem, and then they will figure it out. In my opinion, that’s a smart move. They understand that whatever they do, it will cause dissatisfaction. They are probably even thinking, “Let’s not make people too angry just yet. Let’s put it off for later.”

Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for release on November 19 of this year on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. Rockstar Games and Take-Two have not yet announced anything regarding a release window for the PC version or GTA VI Online.

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