How Rockstar Games Is Turning ‘GTA V’ Into An Online Multiplayer-Only Experience

Many gamers were likely expecting to see a series of single-player DLC become available for Grand Theft Auto V when the game launched on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in 2013. However, as Rockstar Games released updated versions of the game on the new generation of consoles and PC over the past two years, it became increasingly clear that adding new single-player content to GTA V was no longer one of the developer’s main focus for the game.

While it was evident to fans that this was the case, Rockstar Games simply remained quiet on the topic of single-player DLC for Grand Theft Auto V until recently. It wasn’t until earlier this month that the studio finally admitted that they currently haven’t even starting working on expanding the title’s story campaign. In fact, the Inquisitr previously reported that Rockstar Games doesn’t even have plans to make any single-player GTA V DLC in the near future.

According to the developer, everyone at Rockstar North is now actively working on new content for GTA Online alone. The continued success of the franchise’s new online multiplayer mode has led the studio to shift their focus away from single-player content.

While fans haven’t received any new expansions to Grand Theft Auto V‘s campaign since the game first launched two years ago this month, gamers have been able to play GTA Online in order to continue to enjoy new content. Even though the online mode allowed multiple people to play together, users could still choose to try out most of GTA Online‘s co-op missions along. In this way, GTA Online still gave fans of single-player gaming additional content for those wanting to play solo.

However, now that Rockstar Games has admitted that there won’t be any new single-player content coming to GTA V anytime soon, the developer is also making harder for those to play by themselves in GTA Online. Unfortunately, most of the recent big additions to the game are impossible to enjoy without a full group of people, thus making is harder and harder to fans to enjoy GTA V on their own.

This trend began earlier this year after the Rockstar Newswire announced the addition of online co-op heists to GTA Online. Most gamers had been eagerly anticipating the release of these big jobs since Grand Theft Auto V was first launched. With the exception of a single two-player tutorial mission, online heists allowed groups of four players to join together to attempt a large-scale robbery. Online heists didn’t only need four different gamers to fill the seats; the team had to actually coordinate their efforts to effectively complete the objectives.

“Choose your roles and strategize to complete each stage of a Heist, with tight communication and coordination the key to success. Some missions will require the team to work as a single unit, while others will break the team into separate roles to complete key objectives. Replay each Heist to experience a different perspective on the action, and complete Elite Challenges for extra cash.”

Unlike the existing co-op missions of GTA Online, players couldn’t even start these jobs without the required amount of users. This was the start of an ongoing trend in which Rockstar Games continues to introduce new content to GTA V‘s online mode that simply can’t be enjoyed alone.

Fans once again saw this new design philosophy resurface earlier this month with the launch of the new Freemode Activities. These objectives are intended to provide users with a more dynamic experience while inside the open-world setting of GTA Online. While it was never stated in any of the developer’s big announcements for the update, a full description of GTA V‘s new online Freemode Events on the official Rockstar support site revealed that the activities can’t be enjoyed if there are at least four players currently in the lobby.

So, once again, another major update for GTA Online has completely blocked gamers from being able to enjoy the new content if they prefer to play alone. Since Rockstar Games isn’t currently working on bringing any single-player DLC to Grand Theft Auto V, it seems as though the developer is pushing to encourage everyone to play GTA Online with lots of other people. Rockstar Games didn’t respond to a request to comment on whether there will be any more solo or small-group content added to GTA Online in the future.

Would you still like to have the ability to play GTA Online by yourself without having to use matchmaking in order to enjoy new content?

[Images via Rockstar Games]