GTA VI will initially only be released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2025. Why is Rockstar letting the PC community down?
For a long time, Rockstar Games remained silent about the new GTA. To start the week, the legendary development studio finally released the first trailer for the sixth instalment in the open-world game series. The trailer also included a release date. Starting sometime in 2025, you’ll be racing through the virtual streets of Vice City. But only if you own a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. PC gamers will have to wait even longer. How long? No idea.
Why is Rockstar ignoring the PC platform? It's 2023, and simultaneous releases on consoles and PC are now commonplace. Rockstar doesn’t give any reasons for their PC slight in the official press release accompanying the announcement.
These factors may have played a decisive role in the decision.
Historically, Rockstar Games has always been a studio that develops games primarily for consoles – with the exception of the first top-down GTA titles. The first game was initially released on PC and then for PlayStation. Part 2 was launched simultaneously on both systems. But with the leap into the third GTA dimension, PC fans had to wait longer for a port. With GTA V, the wait for PC fans reached dizzying new heights.
Other Rockstar games also landed on PC much later. PC gamers had to wait over a year for Red Dead Redemption 2. The first Red Dead Redemption never even released for PC. The recently released remastered version of the classic was also only released on PS4 and Switch. Rockstar works in mysterious ways. However, it’s clear the studio prefers consoles for developing new games. And that brings me to my second point.
According to Rockstar founder Sam Houser, the studio wants to «push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences» with GTA VI. The trailer confirms Houser's statements. Never before has an open world looked so lively, detailed and packed. The beach, with its countless unique NPCs and moving objects, looks incredible.
It’s easier for Rockstar to develop such an ambitious and complex game as GTA VI for consoles first. Although the hardware is weaker on consoles than on high-end PCs, it’s clearly defined. Rockstar knows what possibilities and limitations it faces with PS5 and Xbox series hardware. Such restrictions can help implement an ambitious vision cleanly. Optimising a monster game like GTA VI for consoles and all possible PC configurations at the same time involves a considerable additional effort, which often ends in loveless and technically questionable PC ports with other studios. Or, as in the case of Cyberpunk 2077, in barely playable console versions. Or, in the worst case, with a game that doesn't run well on either consoles or PCs at launch.
This doesn’t mean the PC version of GTA VI isn’t already in development. A look into the past suggests that the PC version is probably already relatively advanced. In an interview with PC Gamer from 2015, Rockstar gave an insight into the development of the PC port of GTA V, stating GTA V had been planned for PC since day one. The PC version was taken into account from the outset when making fundamental technical decisions. However, the company deliberately took its time with development. Initially, Rockstar wanted to concentrate fully on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game in order to optimise them as well as possible for the ageing console generation.
With the development of the graphically more complex next-gen version for PS4 and Xbox One, work on the high-end PC port also ramped up. This enabled synergies to be exploited in development. It remains to be seen whether Rockstar will take a similar approach with GTA VI and wait for a console hardware upgrade to complete the PC version. One thing is clear: Rockstar is in no hurry with the PC port. Quite the opposite, in fact. In addition to advantages in development, the delayed release strategy also brings financial benefits.
Other AAA developers such as Ubisoft and Activision release their blockbuster games at regular intervals. Often even annually. A gaming year without a new Call of Duty? Inconceivable! Rockstar, on the other hand, releases games every few years. If GTA VI really is released in 2025, eleven years will have passed since GTA V. Unbelievable. Yes, even the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 will have been seven years ago at that point. In order to fill these release droughts and to satisfy hungry investors in the meantime, Rockstar simply re-releases its blockbusters again and again.
Take GTA V: after the initial release in September 2013 for PS3 and Xbox 360, a next-gen upgrade for PS4 and Xbox One followed in November 2014. At full price, of course. The game was then also released for PC in April 2015. Again at full price. And last year, another next-next-gen update for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S followed – this time a little cheaper, at least.
The strategy of delayed releases on multiple platforms is lucrative for Rockstar. This keeps the games in conversation and they sell more over a long period of time. GTA V has so far sold over 190 million (!) copies. Each new release is celebrated as an event and enables a new target audience to immerse themselves in the game.
Many GTA fans also dared to double dip with the fifth instalment – in other words, they bought the game several times. According to PlayTracker, around 44 per cent of gamers who bought it own it on multiple platforms. I too am one of these victims. After 100 per centing GTA V on the PS3, I treated myself to the PS4 update. For better graphics and such. And yes, I played it again on PC.
With the delayed PC release of GTA VI, even the biggest PC fans will be thinking about taking the plunge into the console world after all to avoid having to wait several months – or several years. And conversely, anyone who buys GTA VI on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X will be tempted to buy the ultra-high-end version of the game for PC after a few years. Rockstar wins twice, fans' bank accounts lose twice.
Rockstar Games and its parent company Take Two are known for being tough on modders and cheaters – especially when it comes to GTA V Online. Among other things, they’ve sued modders who developed cheating software for online mode. The developers of GTA Online roleplaying modification FiveM were also intimidated with private investigators and threats to stop development.
The reason for this is simple. Rockstar makes an incredible amount of money with GTA Online. Since the launch of GTA V, the company has generated a turnover of 8.33 billion dollars with the GTA brand – a large part of this through microtransactions from online mode. The more PC players circumvent these purchases with cheats, mods and alternative roleplaying servers, the more money Rockstar misses out on.
Rockstar's problems with modders started even before GTA Online. The Hot Coffee scandal shortly after the release of the PC port of GTA: San Andreas in 2004 is legendary. A modder discovered hidden code in Rockstar's West Coast epic that could be used to start a sex mini-game. This had far-reaching consequences for Rockstar and the video game industry as a whole. The game was completely withdrawn from circulation in Australia. In the USA, San Andreas was given an Adults Only age rating after being re-examined. In addition, the ESRB, the US equivalent of the European PEGI system, significantly tightened up its content checks.
According to Dan Houser, Rockstar co-founder, it was «draining and upsetting – a tough time in the company». The incident apparently also had a major impact on the way Rockstar deals with the media and the public in general. And probably also the company attitude towards modders.
Rockstar doesn't have to worry about such problems with consoles. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are closed systems with no crazy mods, no unofficial roleplaying servers and fewer options for cheating. Players dutifully spend money on Shark Cards and buy in-game items such as cars or yachts. The longer this idyllic state is maintained, the more money is flushed into Rockstar and Take Two's coffers.
GTA VI will only be released on consoles for the time being. Are you waiting for the PC version?
The competition has ended.
My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.