Final yr, footage of the following Grand Theft Auto—assumed to be GTA 6—leaked on-line. Whereas Rockstar rapidly tried to erase the movies from the web and plug the holes within the ship, it was not possible to utterly include such an enormous, unprecedented leak. So followers world wide bought an excellent have a look at the way forward for Grand Theft Auto. And now myself and others discover it exhausting to return to the getting old GTA On-line.
Late on September 19, 2022, 90 brief movies of early gameplay of what would later be confirmed by Rockstar as the following GTA entry leaked on-line through a hacker. The footage revealed lots concerning the subsequent sport within the massively standard open-world franchise, together with that the sequence could be returning to Vice Metropolis, Florida, a fan-favorite location final seen in GTA: Vice Metropolis Tales, the prequel to the beloved PS2 basic, GTA: Vice Metropolis. It additionally gave us a very good have a look at the brand new protagonists of this subsequent prison journey and a few of the missions we’d expertise when GTA 6 is ultimately launched. Followers even started mapping out the sport’s digital world utilizing the leaks.
Rockstar undoubtedly hates the leak and sure needs it might rewind time and forestall it from ever taking place in any respect, nevertheless it did find yourself revitalizing the playerbase. For the primary time in a very long time, there was pleasure and vitality within the GTA neighborhood, which after years of GTA On-line updates and poorly obtained remasters was in a fairly dangerous place previous to the leak. Even an early, unfinished or unpolished leak of GTA 6 was higher than radio silence and glitchy remasters. Folks have been pumped and hyped about the way forward for Grand Theft Auto in a manner I hadn’t seen in years.
However then, as soon as the leaks have been scrubbed from the online and it grew to become clear Rockstar wasn’t going to launch any official teaser or trailer to capitalize on the second, all I and different GTA followers might do was return to GTA On-line. And that’s tougher to do now that I’ve seen the longer term.
The most recent huge and free growth to GTA On-line, Los Santos Drug Conflicts, was launched late final yr at a extremely dangerous time for me to play and canopy it for the location. So I simply…didn’t play it. For the primary time ever within the historical past of GTA On-line, I skipped a brand new replace utterly. I’ve nonetheless not performed it. At first, I blamed my skipping of the most recent replace on dangerous timing and a busy schedule resulting from holidays and end-of-the-year content material. However now, weeks faraway from all that, with extra free time to play stuff, I’ve nonetheless not fired up the brand new replace. And I believe it’s time to confess to myself that my rising burnout round GTA On-line was elevated vastly by that small style of what’s to come back. That have a look at the way forward for GTA in Florida ruined me.
I might return and drive across the identical highways and streets of Los Santos I’ve been cruising round since 2013. I might fireplace up the sport and take a look at the most recent enterprise and missions related to it. I might, positive. The factor is, I don’t know if I need to. I imply, ultimately, I’ll play extra GTA On-line. I kind of should because it’s a part of my job right here at Kotaku. But, if it wasn’t a part of my profession there’s an actual likelihood that I would simply by no means play GTA On-line once more.
To be clear: It’s not as a result of GTA On-line is worse right this moment than it was a decade in the past—it’s truly a lot better to play in 2023 than in 2013—however as a result of getting a glimpse of a contemporary new world has killed my want in addition up the identical outdated Los Santos after a decade of GTA On-line and GTA V. I imply, simply having new songs on the radio can be wonderful. I really like Queen’s “Radio Ga-Ga” however you possibly can solely hear it so many instances in 10 years earlier than you’re prepared for brand spanking new tunes, too.
At this level, I’m hoping the await Grand Theft Auto 6 and its sunny seashores, palm timber, and new characters isn’t an excessive amount of longer, as a result of I’m prepared to depart Los Santos behind for a tropical trip to Vice Metropolis.
