Former Rockstar dev talks GTA (6) Online, as games as service is crashing

GTA Online has been a massive success for Rockstar, and it seems to be going strong still, 13 years after its release. With GTA 6 launching in just over two months, its own online mode is expected to launch a couple of months after. Naturally, expectations are high. And this time, Rockstar can’t be as unsure as last time.

GTA Online builds on the GTA V map and has loads of content for players to enjoy either on their own or with friends. However, at launch, that wasn’t the case at all. There was barely any content, and the launch was plagued by network instability issues. Before it went live, even the developers were fearful that it would fail.

Matt Freedman, a former Rockstar designer who worked on GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Max Payne 3, spoke with Eldorado.gg and shared some insight on the development of GTA Online. “When we were working on GTA Online, it was an afterthought. And we were all positive it was going to fail,” said Freedman. He added that while he wasn’t deeply involved in the development of GTA Online, he was close enough to know what the situation was.

Freedman stated that QA testers told him there was only four hours of content and that they were in trouble. The team eventually decided to launch and see what happens.

Where does that leave GTA 6 online?

He also spoke about GTA 6 online and said that development on the online mode would have started with games as a service being huge, but by the time it finished, games as a service was crashing. Rockstar is likely much more prepared this time than it was with GTA Online. It knows that expectations are through the roof, and that it needs to deliver on those expectations to make GTA 6 online as big, if not bigger, than GTA Online.