Is There a Future for Grand Theft Auto Online?
Since launching in 2013, Grand Theft Auto Online has gone from charming GTA multiplayer add-on to money-making juggernaut, netting Rockstar and publisher Take-Two Interactive hundreds of millions of dollars. Last year, former Rockstar North President Leslie Benzies sued Take-Two for $150 million in unpaid royalties. The lawsuit revealed that Grand Theft Auto Online has generated at least half a billion dollars in revenue just from microtransactions. To fans, that revelation also confirmed a longstanding rumor: GTA V wasn’t going to receive any single-player DLC because GTA Online was a cash cow. It makes sense from a business perspective. Why invest millions of dollars in 10-hours of additional single-player content when you can disperse similar online content throughout the year, and reap a fat profit? Rockstar moved the entire GTA V team over to GTA Online to ensure new content would continue to be released. In doing so, they confirmed they were committed to the long haul. If they chose, Rockstar could add to the GTA Online world for years to