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It’s hard to find a game today that confuses developers and publishers as much as GTA 6 does. Rockstar’s upcoming release is no longer just a highly anticipated game, it has turned into a milestone event in the gaming industry, and this collective anxiety is justified, especially since GTA 5 is still the second best-selling game in the history of the industry, a rare feat that continues.
As a result, companies are trying to avoid the GTA 6 release date like a hurricane, but the biggest issue is that this date has changed more than once, confusing release plans and threatening the future of some studios. Japanese director Goichi Suda even sarcastically commented that his new game Romeo Is a Dead Man won the challenge against GTA 6 by simply surviving the collision with its release date.
What’s been interesting lately is the association of GTA 6 with a genre considered risky in the Western market: the MMORPG, a claim made by veteran Rich Vogel, who has worked on notable titles like Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, The Old Republic, and New World as well as being involved in recent projects like Halo Infinite and Gotham Knights.
During an interview about the future of MMORPGs in the West, Vogel noted that he had heard that some of the features planned for GTA 6, if true, could put its multiplayer on a path closer to an MMORPG experience.
When asked if there is still an audience waiting for a huge western MMORPG, he replied that millions of players are still active in games like World of Warcraft, SWTOR, ESO, Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Fallout 76, but that publishers are currently reluctant to take the risk. However, Vogel believes that GTA 6 could be an exception if the rumors about the depth of its collective systems come true.
It is important to distinguish here between the individual story mode and the online mode, as Vogel’s talk is clearly focused on the online mode and not the story, which is expected to remain a traditional experience that focuses on the narrative and characters as the series is used to, and therefore any approach to MMORPG will be through the evolution of GTA Online and not by converting the game completely to this genre.
It should also be emphasized that Vogel did not work on the project, which makes his statements in the realm of analysis and expectations rather than confirmed information.
GTA 5 was a huge leap from GTA 4, as the group experience moved from limited sessions to a semi-permanent world, and the success of GTA Online was so immense that Rockstar abandoned separate storyline add-ons and focused on pumping content directly into the multiplayer.
In August 2023, Rockstar acquired the developer of the popular FiveM mod, which introduced MMORPG-like elements such as private servers, larger player counts, and role-playing systems. This mod became so popular that it sometimes surpassed the official GTA Online in terms of player counts on Steam and contributed to the game topping the Twitch charts.
GTA 6 is unlikely to become a traditional MMORPG in the vein of World of Warcraft or The Elder Scrolls Online, but it is very likely to borrow some elements of the genre such as an ongoing living world, deeper role-playing systems, broader social interaction, and long-term content that will keep players engaged for years.
Until official information or a new presentation is released, GTA 6 will remain the focus of rumors, discussions, and the game that terrifies competitors before it reaches the hands of players, as it is no longer just a new release, but a project that may reshape the entire gaming industry.
