At least once a month, there’s more media coverage about howGrand Theft Auto 5continues to top sales charts, year-over-year, since the game’s initial release in 2013. Since then the game has quickly cemented itself as one of the best-selling games of all time, now topping out at over 130 million units sold. Rockstar’s baby has been a sales giant to the point where it’s as if the publisher has found some secret formula that can’t be replicated elsewhere.
Fans, pundits, and others have been questioning the lasting appeal ofGrand Theft Autoas a whole, despite the fifth game selling like gangbusters. It’s an interesting question, whether or notGrand Theft Auto 5is a sign of what to expect from Rockstar Games in the future, or if it’s simply just a lightning in a bottle moment for the publisher. There’s plenty of evidence to the contrary, showing Rockstar simply is just very good at making games, but the question is whether or notGrand Theft Auto 5is the peak before a fall.
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The Success of Grand Theft Auto 5/Online
The fifthGrand Theft Autogame has an interesting story in terms of video games. Very quickly did this game become a smash hit, even in the early days whenGrand Theft Auto Onlinewasn’t even available or was in its beta state. The singleplayer content alone featured innovations like the three-protagonist system, along with further improvements to existing features and mechanics of the game. Even though initial sales were fantastic forGrand Theft Auto5, the game never truly becamean all-time best-seller until the blossoming ofGrand Theft Auto Online. Playing the online version of the game quickly turned into this strange amalgamation of RPG and MMO progression melded with the traditionalGrand Theft Autostyle fans knew so well.
Grand Theft Auto 5’s greatness stems fromGrand Theft Auto Online, and the developers at Rockstar understood this very early on.Single-player DLC planned forGrand Theft Auto 5was likely scrappeddue to developing future updates for the wildly popular online mode instead.Grand Theft Auto Onlinelived up to its identity as being an entirely separate experience fromGrand Theft Auto 5. Outside of the usual running from police, players could purchase their own homes, manage their own (illegal) offices and businesses, organize heists, run drug trafficking rings, buy expensive yachts, and plenty of other insane things. Progressing to the top of theGrand Theft Auto Onlinefood chain was almost like an MMO, repeating activities consistently until leveling up to the next tier of content.
Part of that success likely spilled over intoRed Dead Redemption 2’s greatness as well. Don’t take that the wrong way, theRed Deadseries became massively popular on its own withthe respectably successful first gameRed Dead Redemption. The western prequel adventure ofRed Dead Redemption 2would’ve still thrived regardless of the level of successGrand Theft Auto 5received. That aside, it’s still hard to deny that there hasn’t been an overflow of support into Rockstar’s latest success.Red Dead Redemption 2is a vastly more niche game when directly compared toGrand Theft Auto 5, yet somehow both games (within the same decade) have become some of the highest selling games of all time. Fans likely expect an established pedigree from Rockstar Games' titles now more than ever, which likely helped immensely.
Another aspect is the expectations placed onRed Dead Onlinethanks toGrand Theft Auto Online’s success. LikeGrand Theft Auto,Red Dead Onlinelaunched in beta but has since seen many updates steadily improving and enhancing the experience over time. Even thoughRed Dead Onlinedoesn’t have that same ubiquity ofGrand Theft Autothere’s still a dedicated fanbase playing the game, whether it’s for the new class system implemented into the official game orthe fan-made role-playing servers that are huge on Twitch. There’s an expectation thatRed Dead Onlinecould easily expand and become just as engrossing and huge asGrand Theft Auto Online, which is likely why there’s such a dedicated fanbase sticking around to see how the game evolves.
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Rockstar’s Immediate Future
At this point, it’s like Rockstar Games cannot lose. Regardless of whether or notRed Dead Redemption 2sold less, or even if the nextGrand Theft Autogame sells “worse” thanGrand Theft Auto 5, there’s no way future Rockstar Games titles don’t have the potential to be successful. Unless there’s some kind of devastating shift in development structure,more impactful than Dan Houser’s retirement from Rockstar Games, it’s hard not to envision lasting success for the publisher. It’s not to say Rockstar Games is invincible, but its current trajectory has been very positive for the publisher. Expectations are great now, especially with a potentialGrand Theft Auto 6on the horizon.
Rockstar has seen some dramatic shifts in its working environment in the years sinceRed Dead Redemption 2, though it’s unclear how that may affect the immediate future of the publisher. With Houser leaving, along withsome major culture and working condition changes at Rockstar, it’s very possible the nextGrand Theft Autocould come out in a vastly different state. While this may impose some uncertainty, for now Rockstar has shown nothing but promise, and that could very well extend into its next project. Fans have gotten some news about how this uncertainty could manifest into game design, but for now there’s no reason to doubt the publisher.
Whatever the future holds for the nextGrand Theft Autogame, or Rockstar Games in general,it doesn’t seem like there’s any cause for concern.Grand Theft Auto 5may have its own respective faults, but it continues to sell extremely well for good reason. Assuming that same level of care and long-term support can come to Rockstar Games' next title, hopefully the publisher can continue its massive forward momentum.
Grand Theft Auto 6is rumored to be in development.
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