Ex-Rockstar dev admits GTA Online was set to “fail” as GTA 6 rumors continue

A former Rockstar Games developer admits that GTA Online looked set to “fail” initially, but that shouldn’t be the case with GTA 6’s multiplayer. 

With Rockstar’s extended look at Grand Theft Auto 6 now in the rearview mirror, the gaming world is looking forward to November 19 and being able to finally get their hands on the long-awaited game.

However, if you’re more of a GTA Online fan than the single-player, you’re in for an even longer wait. Rockstar has kept their cards close to their chest on that front. Some reports have speculated that the release of the multiplayer side could take a month, or even longer, seeing as it will be huge. 

Anyone who tried to play GTA Online on its original release day knows the issues they ran into. Some missions wouldn’t load, the character creation was a bit of a mess, and you’d struggle to find stable lobbies.

GTA Online originally had four hours of content in it

Well, speaking to ElDorado.GG, Matt Freedman, who worked on technical design at Rockstar Games, admitted that GTA Online looked set to “fail” from the get-go, but that won’t be the case next time around.

“When we were working on GTA Online, it was an afterthought. And we were all positive it was going to fail. Everyone thought this thing was going to fail,” Freedman said, noting it initially had four hours of content. Yet, it has become a “phenomenon” in the years since, giving Rockstar a big platform to build upon.

“I’m really interested to see what they do with GTA 6 Online. The thing that’s going to be interesting is GTA 6 Online would have started development when games as a service were huge, and it would have finished development as games as a service are crashing,” he added.

Rockstar Games

The former GTA developer said there are a lot of “smart” people at Rockstar who would have seen the “writing on the wall” for live service titles.

“People like art, they like creativity, like seeing people work at the edge of their capacity. It’s what we find fascinating,” he added. 

The only real rumors around GTA Online centre around increased monetization plans, as Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said they’d only ‘scratched the surface’ in GTA 5.

It was reported in early August that Rockstar had “no plans” to discuss the multiplayer side of things yet, either.