The Sad Truth Behind Next-Gen GTA 5
While Sony's Future of Gaming livestream event was notable for introducing a number of new and exciting titles, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West. However, there was one other reveal that was significantly more controversial among gaming fans: the "expanded and enhanced" edition of Grand Theft Auto 5. This version of the game will be coming to PlayStation 5 and other next-gen platforms. Not only that, but a standalone version of GTA Online will be released sometime in the second half of 2021.
While it's exciting for fans of that game to be able to continue playing an enhanced version of the game, this news is also a bit of a bummer. There were hopes that Rockstar Games would choose to officially announce Grand Theft Auto 6 during the PlayStation 5 reveal. Instead, the reveal of this new port of Grand Theft Auto 5 seems to indicate that we are still far away from the next proper installment in the series.
It appears as though the rumors suggesting that GTA 6 was still early in development were correct. This is very disappointing for fans, particularly considering the fact that several leaks had suggested the idea that GTA 6 was further along than everyone thought.
After all, a few different actors have hinted at a new GTA being around the corner in recent months. Jorge Consejo listed a voice and motion-capture role on his resume related to Grand Theft Auto 6. According to him, he is playing a character referred to only as "The Mexican." However, he told followers on Twitter that he couldn't comment on his part in the production at this time. And Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter seemingly suggested to fans that he knew something related to the upcoming sequel as well, although he denied these theories. It wouldn't have been the first time that GTA fans reached for any and all signs of a new game, but it sure seemed like things were finally starting to gather steam.
However, it appears as though the wait for GTA 6 will be even longer. After all, it's highly unlikely that Rockstar Games would go through the trouble of giving Grand Theft Auto 5 a graphical facelift for next-gen consoles if there were plans to release the next sequel within the next year or so. It's especially unlikely when you consider that the port will apparently feature new content. In other words, it's more likely that those rumors of a 2023 release are true, despite Take-Two Interactive's insistence to the contrary.
According to Rockstar Games' official announcement of the port, "the journey through the ever-evolving, shared world of GTA Online will continue on to the new generation with more new updates including additional GTA Online content exclusive to the new consoles and PC." In other words, it seems that the majority of the "expanded" content will be for Grand Theft Auto Online. This is exciting for GTA Online fans, but probably a letdown for anyone who was hoping for more of a revamped GTA 5 experience.
It's unclear if there will be any more new content aside from the exclusive Online additions, but some fans have speculated that the map may be larger or remixed in some way. Others feel much less optimistic about the effort being put into the new port. One Twitter user wrote, "I bet it's gonna be just the base PS4 port with all the DLCs included, with VERY slight texture improvements, though I wouldn't be surprised if they don't touch the game at all." Their reasoning for this is the fact that no new footage was actually shown in the Future of Gaming reveal trailer.
It's unlikely that there will be any new single-player content. When Grand Theft Auto Online began to gain popularity, Rockstar Games canned its original plans to add story DLCs to Grand Theft Auto 5. These would have included a content pack featuring the GTA 5 protagonists fighting their way through a zombie apocalypse. It probably wouldn't be worth it to go through the trouble of adding these for a new port that won't be released until nearly eight years after the game's original debut.
However, if there's one exciting thing to take from the new GTA 5 reveal, it's that it shows that Rockstar is thinking about how to keep its older games relevant on newer platforms. Maybe those rumors of an enhanced and expanded version of the first Red Dead Redemption are true.
While the announcement of this port means that there's still a bit of a wait ahead, there are at least plenty of exciting GTA 6 rumors to mull over.