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rom the very beginning, Rockstar North wanted Grand Theft Auto V’s multiplayer mode to faithfully replicate the GTA experience online, with the same level of quality as singleplayer. “We used the game’s architecture, geography, and mechanics as a foundation and wanted the same kind of wide array of activities, and the ability to build on them to create new experiences,” says Rob Nelson, co-studio head at Rockstar North, reflecting on the GTA Online journey so far. “We’ve always wanted to build these immersive, complex living worlds to hold our stories, regardless of whether it’s for a single player or multiple,” he says. “We had created complex systems for weather, traffic, population, and more, to give people as much freedom as we possibly could to create unique experiences. “And creating online versions of these worlds has shown us how to deepen and extend those experiences in new ways. By letting players share the space together, and through activities like heists, we help people create stories of their own, and over time they become more connected to the world.” Grand Theft Auto Online has been around since 2013, on Xbox 360 and PS3, and the original release seems almost simplistic compared to what exists today. When it first launched there wasn’t all that much to do, but now there are countless distractions,
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from running guns to robbing banks. I ask Nelson how the game people are playing now compares to the studio’s original vision. “It’s in line with our initial ideas, but six years on from launch, and even longer since we initially conceptualised it, it’s grown deeper and evolved in more directions than we sketched out,” he says. “GTA Online players are comprised of a series of smaller audiences that like to play it in different ways. So with the foundations in place we started creating updates that served each of these audiences.”
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Updates bring new cars and colours . to
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Get your Tron on with the futuristic Shotaro sports bike.
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Get behind the wheel of the Overflod Autarch.
BASK IN ROBBING There have been a not insignificant 31 updates for GTA Online since 2013. Some, like 2014’s I’m Not a Hipster add new clothes, cars and jobs; others, such as 2015’s long-awaited Heists, change the game entirely. “As we became more confident that fans
“WE STARTED CREATING UPDATES TH HAT SERVED EACH OF THESE AUDIENC ”
EXTRA LIFE
HEISTS 2015
Some of the best GTA Online updates
Grand Theft Auto Online launched in 2013, but it wasn’t until 2015 that players finally got the chance to indulge in multiplayer heists. These epic multi-part missions are some of the most challenging in the game, but also the most lucrative, for obvious reasons.
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would understand how these updates would connect to the regular world of GTA Online,” says Nelson. “It freed us up to create even crazier updates.” Cunning Stunts, which added wild Hot Wheels-esque tracks to the game, with boosts, corkscrews, and jumps, is perhaps the best example of this. While exaggerated and larger than life in its own way, Grand Theft Auto V’s singleplayer is at least rooted in some kind of logic or realism. But in the anarchic GTA Online, Rockstar can do anything it likes, whether it makes sense or not. Parity between singleplayer and multiplayer has been a priority for Rockstar for years, and this is particularly evident in its most recent game, Red Dead Redemption 2, which blends the two even more seamlessly than GTA V. I ask Nelson how making content for a solo player compares to creating it for many. “You are trying, wherever possible, to ensure that players can feel central to the action and essential to whatever is going on,” he says. “Particularly at the highest level with something like the heists. You’re trying to design inside an open world for players that may be very distant from each other. “But at the same time you want the action to feel like it’s moving forward for everyone at roughly the same time. When it works it feels incredible and we’re really proud of what we created for
CUNNING STUNTS 2016
This update added a massive selection of outlandish stunt races to GTA Online, featuring death-defying loops, boost pads, jumps, and twisting tracks that snake for miles into the sky. Cunning Stunts is GTA Online at its most ridiculous and anarchic.
GUNRUNNING 2017
This update brought a selection of military-based business opportunities to GTA Online. Players could purchase a bunker and get involved in arms trading. New vehicles were also added, including an anti-aircraft trailer and an armoured APC.
AFTER HOURS 2018
Nightclubs were added to GTA Online in the After Hours update. These could be purchased by players to run as a lucrative business. But you could also pay the club a visit, drink, dance, and listen to sets by real-world DJs including Tale of Us and Black Madonna.
DIAMOND CASINO 2019
For years people have wondered if the empty casino in Los Santos would ever open, and this year it finally did. This update added gambling minigames such as blackjack and roulette, as well as new missions, vehicles, jobs, and races.