Quite a bit of news on Grand Theft Auto 5 released alongside the detailed look at GTA Online's upcoming patch. It turns out that the update that brings Freemode Events to GTA Online marks the end of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 content coming to the online mode.
GTA Online's support from Rockstar and success in the community has been pretty phenomenal – which is awesome for the developer, but crippling for those that only play single-player. There's a lot of money for Rockstar to make with GTA Online via microtransactions, and with eight million weekly users, Rockstar will not be pulling support from GTA Online.
In fact, every key member of GTA V's team is solely focused on GTA Online, according to Rockstar North’s director of design Imran Sarwar in a statement to IGN:
"Right now our focus is on GTA Online which has exceeded our expectations. We currently have all key members of the team that launched Grand Theft Auto V focused on supporting GTA Online in every capacity. The community we’ve been able to foster is massive, growing each day and we have so many ideas that have yet to make it into the game."
GTA IV saw two pieces of single-player content, The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony and as long as GTA V's online community continues to be strong, so will its support. This leaves the single-player campaign lacking in support – other than an occasional fix here and there.
"Grand Theft Auto Online changed the flow of development from what we were traditionally used to, which has been a learning experience for everyone.The shift to working on an evolving online game means there are fewer pauses in production – we are constantly producing content for GTA Online alongside everything else we are working on."
It seems as though any story content for the game will have to wait until GTA Online has been thoroughly milked for all its worth.
[via MCV UK]
