GTA V is ten years old

Few games have had as big a cultural impact as Grand Theft Auto. For a game with such an impact, it is striking that a sequel was not immediately announced. That has everything to do with the blockbuster success of GTA V. That game was ten years old this week.

Grand Theft Auto V was released on September 17, 2013. At release it was a game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, followed by a PC release two years later. Developer and publisher Rockstar Games took a unique direction in the seventh part of the series; instead of an individual main character like Niko Bellic, CJ or Tommy Vercetti from previous games, players had to control three characters in the main story, which was set in a Los Angeles-based environment. Franklin, Michael and the unstable Trevor alternated with various unique skills and in addition to individual missions you also had to carry out bank robberies together. The game quickly turned out to be one of the most popular in the series. Later, remasters were released for next-gen consoles, which again sold widely.

But where previous consoles such as the PS3 saw several GTA games, GTA V saw several consoles. There was a remaster for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One and there is now also a new version for the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series S and still unknown.

This has a lot to do with the enormous success of the online component, which was first added in Part IV but really became popular with Part V. It turned out to be so valuable that Rockstar continued to focus on it and released new content such as cars, missions and weapons. Rock star thanks on Twitter all players for their support ‘through the years’. It is indicative of the game, which has been played for years by a fierce group who also like to pay for it in microtransactions.

It is not yet known when a successor to the game will be released. It is also not yet known whether that game will primarily have a storyline or whether it will definitely not be an online game. If V’s success becomes a guideline, that is not unthinkable.

Update: GTA V only became available on PC two years after its console release. That has been adjusted. The earlier part, GTA IV, also already had a multiplayer component.