Grand Theft Auto VI is finally confirmed to be in active development.
Rockstar Games is not known for its communication skills, especially when it comes to its large fan base. So when it released its "Grand Theft Auto Community Update" post on its newswire website, many were quick to notice that Rockstar confirmed what we all knew all along: a new GTA game is on its way. After years of having to deal with unconfirmed leaks and rumours from various sources, the news is officially confirmed from the horse's mouth. Of course, in typical Rockstar fashion, there was very little to go on about the message aside from this one line:
We are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway.
But why is the announcement of GTA VI such big news? For the most part, it's because this is the longest turnaround time Rockstar has taken in-between GTA titles. The cult classic has been around since 1997, spanning 16 titles as well as awards and accolades galore along the way. And with GTA VI finally confirmed, it's anyone's guess at this point on what we can expect with Rockstar's next big AAA release. As next year will be a full decade since GTA V's release, I wouldn't put it past Rockstar to make a big spectacle via a special announcement regarding GTA VI.
Rockstar is notorious for having horrible communication skills with its community, preferring to remain silent until they have something concrete to talk about. With speculations now rife since the announcement, here are a few things that we want to see with GTA VI and some others that we don't.
Multi-character Gameplay - WANT
One of the ways that made GTA V such a huge hit was its storytelling through three different main characters that you can switch in-between at any given time during the game. Rockstar is known to be one of the great storytellers in the industry and GTA V was one of its best-ever with many praising the writing and direction of the game. The gameplay also received plenty of positive notes, citing its heist mission designs alongside its world-building of the fictional Los Santos that resembles modern-day Los Angeles.
With the story set across three different protagonists spread across the map, this gave players the chance to explore new areas by instantly switching instead of having to make the long journey or even suffer through insanely long load times. Switching between characters during gunfights also paved the way for new types of gameplay tactics to be employed, allowing you to get creative when approaching certain missions.
Empty Buildings Galore - DON'T WANT
While Rockstar did create an amazing open world with Los Santos, oftentimes you'll find that many of its buildings don't serve any purpose aside from aesthetics. This does differ between the story and online parts of GTA V with certain buildings playing a role in the story mode while it doesn't have much use online. Sure, it makes for a terrific skyline but other than that, many of its buildings remain inhabited unless for a specific mission.
There also wasn't much to do in terms of free mode activities. Sure, you could play darts, golf, tennis, and skydive, but there was potential for so much more to be done. Activities like skateboarding, pool or snooker, and surfing are just some of the things that GTA V could have offered but didn't. Hopefully, we'll get to see more open-world activities available with GTA VI, provided they have the perfect game engine for it.
A Better Online Experience - WANT
Online multiplayer gameplay has been a staple of the series since GTA IV, which served as a stepping stone for what GTA Online is now. Released alongside GTA V, the online segment has been the key driving force in what GTA is known for today. Over the past nine years, Rockstar has poured every ounce of its resources into the online title, which encompasses 40 updates thus far with the latest being the Contract update featuring Dr Dre.
Of course, one will have to take the good with the bad, for which there are many in GTA Online. From various modded hacks PC players have to endure as well as plain and oppressive griefing everyday players go through when they jump online are just some of the concerns fans have talked about for years but with no actual response from Rockstar. If the devs could incorporate better long-term solutions into GTA VI that will deter others from ruining the online experience for new players, that would be the start to something great.
In-game Inflation - DON'T WANT
Given the longevity of GTA Online, it's not hard to come across multi-millionaires and billionaires across Los Santos. Some players dedicate themselves to the grind of further building their empire, which has been aided by the Cayo Perico heist update released in 2020. Ever since its release, it has aided countless players in making millions in just a few hours when it would use to take days or even weeks to breach that number back then. Because of this, Rockstar had inadvertently created inflation within its community by pricing everything way too expensive with every new update since.
While there are plenty of players who don't see this as an issue, it does create a problem for new players who aren't entirely sure on how to make plenty of money in a short amount of time and without much help. The fact that certain exotic supercars cost more than it does to acquire a submarine should surmise the economy of GTA Online. One way Rockstar can avoid this is by setting a standard on how much players can make via missions and/or heists while still keeping things like properties, vehicles, weapons, and such somewhat affordable as to not bankrupt players who can't afford to continuously play every single day.
Better Customisations - WANT
For an ever-expanding online game that already offers plenty of customisations, GTA Online still lacks in plenty of different areas in that department. Sure, you can customise things like clothes, hairstyles, tattoos, cars, and your properties, but that's pretty much it. And even then, some of these options don't even offer anything new. Car customisations, for example, are locked to specific cars released during specific updates. New vehicles from the Los Santos Tuners update get way more customisation options than cars released before or after it.
As for properties, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to the types of properties you can own. This ranges from basic housing to luxury penthouses and apartments, special warehouses, nightclubs, arcades, bunkers, hangars, and secret bases to name a few. But once you've owned one, you've owned them all as customisation is locked to a few select choices for each option with limited abilities to make your designs. This is something Rockstar can look into by offering greater freedom and mobility in designing one's personal space or even providing more options for customisations with regular updates thrown in.
Broken AI and NPC - DON'T WANT
It's well-documented on forums like Reddit that the artificial intelligence on the non-playable characters (NPC) is laughable at best. From horrendous driving skills to ridiculous aimbots as well as erratic spawn points, the NPCs have become a point of concern to players for years. Sometimes, they can be easily taken down with single headshots and other times, it takes an entire clip to kill a single enemy. Stealth missions are also an issue in GTA, especially when the missions enforce it but one stray bullet and the entire swarm of enemies are alerted to your surrounding with a hive-mind mentality.
With difficulty being a bit of a grey area in many of Rockstar's missions, the devs should work on creating a more structured difficulty level for all players with better payouts for both solo and co-op players to encourage all types to participate. This would work much better instead of trying to appease one set of players and leaving the other out to dry. It would also be great if the devs will work on bettering the overall interactive experience with NPCs rather than a setlist of recorded voice lines that changes depending on the limited action done to them.
GTA VI to come someday in the near future
With no hints of a release date, the earliest we can expect any sort of update from Rockstar about GTA VI would be in March when GTA V: Expanded & Enhanced is expected to drop on March 15 2022. Rockstar could drop another hint on what we can expect from GTA VI once they're done on all their current projects.