GTA 6 Online Could Launch Next Year As Take-Two Talks Up PC Gaming
Speaking to Bloomberg, Clancy apparently said that Twitch "spent a lot of time talking with Rockstar about their plans," emphasizing that Twitch is going to see a big boost in viewership when GTA 6 launches, naturally. However, he continued, saying that he believes Twitch's viewership will rise even higher "next year when they launch multiplayer." Well, thanks, Dan; I'm sure Rockstar is thrilled with you mentioning that.
In truth, it's not that surprising to hear. Rockstar is no doubt laser focused on making sure the single-player Grand Theft Auto VI is as polished as possible right now, and that focus will assuredly continue even after the game launches, with a succession of patches for player-found problems. GTA 6 is a considerably more detailed game than GTA V both in terms of technology and in terms of simulation; it's easy to believe that the online component could be vastly more involved than GTA V's relatively simplistic simulation, which removed many elements present in the single-player game, including animals, pedestrian dialogue, and the majority of enterable businesses.
Of course, the platform most capable of handling advanced graphics and especially extended simulation elements would naturally be a powerful gaming PC with piles of CPU cores and gobs of RAM, but Rockstar hasn't said a peep about a GTA 6 PC release yet, either. We know it'll come; Rockstar has always released its games on PC, including every entry in the mainline Grand Theft Auto series. It's just a matter of when.
At Take-Two's annual meeting of shareholders yesterday, a shareholder asked, "is the shortage of PS5 Pros causing changes in delivery of PC gaming?" You see, after the GTA 6 Extended Look preview went up on Netflix and YouTube, PS5 Pro systems vanished from store shelves as gamers apparently were excited to have the best experience possible at launch (although it will be limited to 30 FPS either way.). TTWO CEO Strauss Zelnick's response addressed the question that the analyst was really asking quite directly:
"I assume this is a question regarding the cadence of PC launches. The strategy of the company is over time, generally speaking, to launch for any platforms for which there's a meaningful audience, but that isn't always the case, and certainly if platforms were no longer viable, we would change that strategy. I would note that the PC platform is becoming more and more important to our company over time."
— TTWO CEO Strauss Zelnick, TTWO Investors Call
Does this signal that GTA 6 will come to PC day and date with the console versions? Absolutely not. It's worth noting that the very smallest slice of GTA Online money—just 3% of revenues—apparently comes from PC players, whether because PC gamers are more savvy with money, more willing to grind for GTA$, or more likely, more willing to cheat for virtual dollars to save precious real time.
Still, there's a perfectly sizable audience of players on PC who will pony up the $80 for what will assuredly be one of the most important games in gaming history. After all, even if GTA 6 turns out to be an absolute dog, it's still going to be a tale for the ages—just a cautionary one. In any case, let's hope Zelnick's comments mean that the PC release is more like 6 months out than 24.
