Grand Theft Auto Online
Grand Theft Auto Online is an online multiplayer action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 1 October 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on 18 November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on 14 April 2015 for Microsoft Windows; PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions are scheduled for late 2021. The game is the online component of Grand Theft Auto V. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto Online allows up to 30 players to explore the open world and engage in cooperative or competitive game matches. The open-world design lets players freely roam San Andreas, which includes open countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos. Set months prior to the events of the single-player game, Grand Theft Auto Online follows a silent protagonist who arrives in Los Santos and quickly becomes entangled in a world of gangs, crime and corruption, while aiming to make a name of themselves in the city's criminal underworld.
Developed in tandem with the single-player mode, Grand Theft Auto Online was conceived as a separate experience to be played in a continually evolving world. At launch, it suffered widespread technical issues resulting in the inability to play missions and loss of character data. It initially polarised reviewers, being criticised for its lack of direction and repetitive missions, with praise particularly directed at the scope and open-ended gameplay. It won divided year-end accolades, ranging from Biggest Disappointment to Best Multiplayer, from several gaming publications. The game receives frequent free updates that further expand on the game modes and content, which has improved critical reception. The 2015 Heists update had been especially well-received by the critics.
Gameplay
Developed in tandem with Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online was conceived as a separate experience to be played in a continually evolving world. Up to 30 players freely roam across a re-creation of the single-player world and enter lobbies to complete jobs. The Content Creator toolset lets players create their own parameters for custom jobs, like racetracks and deathmatch weapon spawn points. Players may band together in organised player teams called crews to complete jobs together. Rockstar Games Social Club extends crews formed in Max Payne 3 multiplayer mode to that of Grand Theft Auto Online. Players can create their own crews and join up to five total. Crews win multiplayer matches to earn experience points and climb online leaderboards.In Grand Theft Auto Online, players create a new character specific to the online world, which shows on the screen's Switch Wheel alongside single-player characters Franklin, Michael, and Trevor. The player-characters are designed by a genetics-related process. Greater control is given to the character's clothes and hairstyles. The protagonist arrives in Los Santos by plane and is picked up by Lamar Davis, who gives the character a gun and a car. An hour-long tutorial introduces the player to the various game modes, driving, fighting, and game progression mechanics. The story is not central in the multiplayer, though it serves as a prequel to the single-player story, where characters from the single-player are woven in.
Similar to single-player, players can level up their character's attributes such as driving and stamina. Exclusive to GTA Online is a system of earning experience, usually by successful completion of activities. Accumulating enough experience to level up unlocks weapons, clothing, car customisations, and more advanced activities. Once unlocked, items need to be purchased with in-game currency, which can be earned or purchased with real money. Players can circumvent an activity's level requirements by joining a game with others of a sufficient rank. There are options to play alone or with friends, and an option for "Passive Mode", which makes the player immune to other players.
Aside from the open world, there are three main types of set activities: racing, Deathmatch, and objective-based Contact Missions. Online uses lock-on aim and emphasises stealth in firefights. "Adversary Mode" adds several asymmetric variations on these activities, including "Siege Mentality" where one team is besieged by another, and "Hasta La Vista" where truckers chase down cyclists. "Survival" pits a team of up to four players against ten waves of enemies, similar to the Zombies mode in . The Heists Update released on 10 March 2015 adds five co-op elaborate multi-part missions, each mission having several setup jobs leading up to the finale crime which is a high-profit job. The player who is the heist leader has to unlock each heist in order and pay the upfront costs, while receiving the largest payoff and getting their progress saved, while other players can join any setup/finale jobs without prerequisite and get paid a cut for each mission passed. The heists, all requiring four players except the first which is two-player, often assign specific roles to players such as driver, gunner, etc. and/or may split them apart, and a headset is recommended for communicating with other players.
The game includes a content creation tool that lets players make automobile races and deathmatches. Players can choose the location, start and spawn points, and weapon and vehicle drops in deathmatches, and the location, route, race type, and player count in air, land, or sea races. Creations have to be tested against computer-controlled players before the mode is available online. The creations can also be published for others to use. Rockstar tags what they deem to be the best as "Rockstar Verified".
Synopsis
The game's narrative initially takes place in 2013, several months prior to the events of Grand Theft Auto V. The player takes on the role of a silent protagonist who moves to Los Santos upon befriending Lamar Davis on Lifeinvader. Lamar welcomes the player at the Los Santos International Airport, whereupon they engage in a street race and Lamar introduces the player to drug dealer Gerald and corrupt Armenian car salesman Simeon Yetarian for work. As the player begins to make a name of themselves in the city's criminal underworld, they are contacted individually by Trevor Philips, hacker Lester Crest, and Mexican drug lord Martin Madrazo for more work. Over the course of subsequent updates, the player performs various "heists" under the co-ordination of Lester, his associate Agent 14, and Trevor, helps Lamar with his plans to weaken the Ballas and Vagos street gangs, and forms their own criminal organisation and motorcycle club, engaging in odd jobs and purchasing assets to generate profit.The game shifts to 2017 in the Gunrunning update. In The Doomsday Heist, the player purchases an ex-government facility and works with Lester, billionaire Avon Hetz, and his artificial intelligence Clifford, to prevent a doomsday plot through a series of dangerous missions. Soon, the International Affairs Agency, including Agent 14, join forces with them as they try to combat a rogue Russian special ops unit led by Bogdan. Upon wiping them out save for Bogdan himself, Avon and Clifford reveal their true plot to trigger a nuclear armageddon, having used the player, Lester, and the IAA to gain access to the state's defence systems. Reluctantly joining forces with Bogdan, the player ultimately foils Avon and Clifford, killing them both after raiding their hidden facility.
After Hours changes the time setting to 2018 and sees the return of "Gay" Tony Prince from , who works with the player, Lazlow Jones, and English Dave to open a successful nightclub in Los Santos, while also using the club as a front for their covert businesses. Additionally, Simeon and Lester's former assistant Paige Harris contact the player individually for several jobs. The Diamond Casino & Resort, set in 2019, introduces the titular casino, featuring various penthouses that the player can purchase. After buying a penthouse, the player finds themselves involved in a conflict between Texan businessman Avery Duggan, who plans a hostile takeover of the casino, and its staff. The player eventually kills Avery after receiving a tip from his nephew Thornton, who is also interested in buying the casino and promises the staff peace if they give him ownership. Thornton buys the casino and removes the troublesome staff. The Diamond Casino Heist sees Georgina Cheng, sister of former casino owner Tao, enlisting the player and a retired Lester to rob the casino in retaliation for Thornton tricking Tao into selling it to him. The heist is carried out successfully, humiliating Thornton, while Lester enters a relationship with Georgina.
Development
Grand Theft Auto Online launched on 1 October 2013, two weeks after the release of Grand Theft Auto V. Many players reported that they had difficulties connecting to the game's servers and the Social Club web service, and others further reported that the game would freeze while loading early missions. Rockstar released a technical patch on 5 October in an effort to resolve the issues. The microtransaction system, which allows players to purchase game content using real money, was also suspended as a fail-safe. Problems persisted the second week following launch, and some players reported their player-character progress as having disappeared. Another technical patch was released on 10 October combating the issues, and players experiencing issues were told not to recreate their multiplayer avatars. As recompense for the technical issues, Rockstar offered a stimulus of GTA $500,000 to the accounts of all players connected to Online since launch.Rockstar announced in September 2015 that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the online mode will no longer receive any new additional content, due to limitation in the console capacity. This was criticised by Forbes writer Paul Tassi, who felt that Rockstar was "cutting out a lot of potential customers" who continued to play on the older systems, adding that the re-releases on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were lacking in additional content. A standalone version of Grand Theft Auto Online will be released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in late 2021; it will be free on the former for the first three months.
Additional content
Post-release content is continually added to Grand Theft Auto Online and the single-player mode of Grand Theft Auto V through free title updates.2013
The Beach Bum update, released on 19 November 2013, added more beach-themed jobs and customisation content for players. In December, Rockstar announced that they planned to release downloadable content in 2014 that expands the single-player mode and creates new story for the lead characters; but no further announcements have been made. The Deathmatch & Race Creators update was released on 11 December and lets players create their own deathmatches and races. The Capture Update was released on 17 December and adds a new team-based capture the flag mode called Capture. On 24 December, the Holiday Gifts update added Christmas-themed items to the online mode. It also gave players discounts on in-game vehicles, weapons, apartments and other items. The items and discounts were available until 5 January 2014. The update also added snowfall to the game world during Christmas.2014
Coinciding with the 2014 Valentine's Day, the Valentine's Day Massacre Special update released on 13 February added Bonnie and Clyde-themed content to the game for a limited time until the end of February. The Business Update, released on 4 March, added multiple business-themed items to the game. On 11 April, the Capture Creator Update was released that added the ability for players to create their own Capture jobs using the Content Creator. The High Life Update released on 13 May added a few new contact missions, new vehicles, clothes and weapons. It also added new apartments, the ability to purchase two properties at any one time and the Mental State gameplay statistic that monitors player behaviour in-game. The I'm Not a Hipster Update was released on 17 June and added hipster-themed customisation items, and retro-themed vehicles and weapons. The Independence Day Special update was released on 1 July to celebrate the U.S. Independence Day and added patriotic-themed vehicles, weapons and customisation items for a limited time. The patch added new properties to Grand Theft Auto Online and the "On Call Matchmaking" feature that lets player accept a job invite and keep playing until the lobby is full. The San Andreas Flight School update, released on 19 August 2014, added new features and vehicles related to the in-game flying school. The Last Team Standing update was released on 2 October 2014. It added 10 new jobs for, new motorcycles, weapons and creator support for the Last Team Standing mode. On 18 December 2014, the Festive Surprise update was released, which added two new weapons, four holiday-themed vehicles and Christmas-themed apparel that was announced to be available until 5 January 2015. The update also added the ability to buy a third property.2015
The Heists update was a highly anticipated feature of Grand Theft Auto Online. After numerous delays, the update launched on 10 March 2015, suffering some initial technical difficulties due to the increased user load. Ill-Gotten Gains Part 1, released on 10 June 2015, added additional vehicles, clothing items and weapon decals. Some gameplay features were also affected, such as a redesign of the in-game car websites, the addition of a first-person vehicle hood camera in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, and the ability to cycle through targets when using lock-on missiles, among other minor changes. Ill-Gotten Gains Part 2, released on 8 July 2015, added vehicles and weapons. It also added the radio station The Lab, previously exclusive to the Windows version of the game, to all other versions. This was also the final update for both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, citing hardware limitations. The Freemode Events update launched on 15 September 2015, added new modes and activities. It also added the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 for Rockstar Editor and Director Mode, previously exclusive to the Windows version of the game, It was added a new lobbies. Lowriders, released on 10 October 2015, added a new set of missions, hosted by Lamar, additional vehicles, available vehicle upgrades, weapons, clothing items and Benny's Original Motor Works vehicle shop. The update gave players the ability to obtain and customise Lowriders, including upgrades such as interior customisation, hydraulics, and decals. The update also introduced the machete and machine-pistol weapons. Halloween Surprise, released on 29 October 2015 for a limited time, featured two new Halloween-themed vehicles, flashlight and additional masks and ornaments, along with slasher-themed Adversary Modes. They were available until 16 November 2015. The Executives and Other Criminals update released on 15 December 2015. It was new features customisable Penthouse Apartments and new vehicles. It was added a new Extraction modes. The Festive Surprise update returned on 21 December 2015. In addition to the items available in the previous iteration, the new iteration added new festive themed clothes, fifteen new masks and a new car. The update also added a new Adversary mode on 23 December 2015.2016
An update released on 28 January 2016 added a new Adversary mode called Drop Zone along with two new sports cars. Be My Valentine update launched on 10 February. The update included new outfits and cars as well as the content of the previous Valentine's Day themed-update. A couple-themed adversary mode was added by the update.The Lowriders: Custom Classics update, released on 15 March, added three cars available for customisation along with new weapons, clothes and an Adversary mode called "Sumo". Further Adventures in Finance and Felony was released on 7 June. The update allows the player character to buy executive offices, hire criminal associates and become CEO of a criminal organisation which allows the player to participate in new jobs, challenges and purchase cargo warehouses. In addition the update adds new weapons, vehicles, attire, weapon attachments and a new Adversary mode called "Trading Places. The Cunning Stunts update released on 12 July added 13 new vehicles and 16 stunt races. The Bikers update, released on 4 October 2013, saw the return of Malc from, who introduced the players to the concept of motorcycle clubs, which they can form or join, and clubhouses that can be purchased at several new locations in San Andreas. The update also introduced new bikes, new weapons, new tattoos, new clothes, new businesses, and a new adversary mode. Another update released in 8 November 2016, Deadline, added a new adversary game mode based on the light cycle races from Disney's Tron film franchise, specifically those seen in the 2010 film, . 13 December 2016 saw the release of Import/Export as well as Festive Surprise 2016 which brought an expansion to the Finance and Felony update as well as festive holiday content for a limited time to Grand Theft Auto Online, respectively.
2017
The Cunning Stunts: Special Vehicle Circuit released on 14 March 2017. Introduced special vehicle stunt Races and 20 new races. The Gunrunning update was released on 13 June 2017. It allows players to purchase underground bunkers and turn them into illegal weaponry research, storage and production facilities, and allows players to own a customisable Mobile Operations Center, which unlocks missions that unlock discounted prices for vehicles related to the update, such as armoured personnel carriers and armed off-road vehicles. It also allows players to customise their arsenal of weaponry, allowing unique and personal gun designs. On 29 August, Rockstar released the Smuggler's Run update, which allows players to participate in the smuggling business. It also allows players to purchase new large aircraft hangars and purchase a wide variety of aircraft with the addition of a new Adversary Mode job. On 12 December 2017, Rockstar released the Doomsday Heist Update, adding new heists with the possibility to play them in a group of 2-4 players. A large extent of military-grade vehicles and new properties were also added. In late 2017, Festive Surprise allowed players to purchase Christmas and holiday-themed items.2018
Released on 20 March 2018, the Southern San Andreas Super Sport Series introduced new races and modes to the game. The After Hours update was released on 24 July, featuring a new nightlife business. It sees the return of "Gay" Tony Prince from , who serves as the co-owner of the nightclub and provides the player with missions to increase its popularity or to generate profit through illicit businesses via the nightclub's warehouse. The update also features a variety of new vehicles and real life DJs Solomun, Tale Of Us, Dixon and The Black Madonna, whom the player may hire to work at their nightclub. The Arena War update was released on 11 December 2018 introduced new races, included death races, at the Maze Bank Arena.2019
The Diamond Casino & Resort update, released on 23 July 2019, introduced the titular casino, featuring gambling minigames, in addition to new automobiles, missions and other resort activities. The in-game gambling activities are not available in certain regions, including a few US states, due to differing laws and regulations. The Diamond Casino Heist, released on 12 December 2019, added the most complex heist to date, featuring three different approaches and a more interactive mission design. It also introduced purchasable arcades, which are used as fronts to plan the heist, and a new in-game radio station curated by Detroit rapper Danny Brown and British rapper Skepta.Reception
Many reviewers bemoaned their initial play experience as Grand Theft Auto Online suffered widespread technical issues at launch. Destructoids Chris Carter felt the "messy launch" should have been delayed and IGN's Keza MacDonald lamented her "disastrous" play sessions. Digital Spy's Liam Martin lost his character data and considered the technical issues dwarfed pre-launch anticipation. Some reviewers generally praised the game's open-ended and dynamic content; VideoGamer.com's Jon Denton thought the gameplay's "endlessness" made up for its problems and Digital Spy's Martin complimented the game's scope.Its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One re-release received similar critical reactions. IGN's Dan Stapleton reported low player counts in matches, long wait times in lobbies, server disconnection and occasional crashes. "Because of that," he wrote, "I can't strongly recommend... the multiplayer experience alone". VideoGamer.com found progression more streamlined and balanced than before and thought the "grind of just doing PvP until co-op Jobs arrive with regularity" was lost. However, they noted frequent server disconnection, especially during load screens. Game Informers Andrew Reiner reported "minimal lag or issues in the expanded firefights and races".
Other game aspects received similar criticism. The character creation system was panned as unintuitive with resulting unattractive avatars. IGN's MacDonald thought the gameplay's "addictive rhythm" eventually faltered as errands became a monotony. GameSpot's Carolyn Petit thought the game's early mission palette was marred by "bland last team standing deathmatches". Eurogamers Rich Stanton found cooperative gameplay repetitive as players completed the same menial objective cycle. GameSpot's Mark Walton thought the frenetic action lacked direction, with PvP an "unending cycle of pointless slaughter". He considered the reputation system a weak deterrent against foul play and thought the unbalanced game economy was further hindered by low mission payouts.
Reception has improved over time. VG247s Patrick Garratt felt the San Andreas Flight School update incentivised player engagement with the oft-neglected aircraft missions by offering more liberal reward payouts. Digital Spy's Martin thought the Heists update encouraged teamwork and "pinpoint coordination", while IGN's Ryan McCaffrey found high replay value in the heists' volatile action. Eurogamers Stanton enjoyed the strategic planning necessary to pull off a successful heist and thought players were required to think on their feet and adapt to changing scenarios. He further noted occasional gameplay pacing issues and technical hiccoughs such as mid-mission server disconnection.
The game won Best Multiplayer at the 10th British Academy Games Awards and from GameTrailers. Game Revolution and Hardcore Gamer nominated it for Biggest Disappointment. At the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, the game was nominated for Still Playing and won Best Game Expansion for The Diamond Casino & Resort. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, stated that by February 2014, 70 percent of players with Internet access had played Grand Theft Auto Online, and that the game's microtransactions system was the largest contributor to the company's digital revenue since the launch of Grand Theft Auto Online.