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Grand Theft Auto Online, known also as GTA Online or GTAO is the multiplayer spin-off title built on the foundation of, and initially released as part of, Grand Theft Auto V. Launched on the 1st of October, 2013 - two weeks after GTA V - GTA Online became a success for developer Rockstar Games. The developers continued to support the game with content, and it was launched as a standalone title in 2022.
GTA Online is a lobby based PvP/PvE multiplayer game with many mechanics shared with MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games but lacking the population number in a single lobby to fulfill the "Massively" criteria. A maximum of 16 players (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) or 30 players (Enhanced Edition) can share a session, engaging in a number of open world activities or objective based game modes and missions.
Launched shortly after the initial release of GTA 5, GTA Online rapidly achieved a level of success not expected by fans, industry experts or the developers. Rockstar Games would go on to support GTA Online with a constant and steady stream of content updates adding weapons, vehicles, activities, game modes and more content to the title, which continues to this day. Over the years since the game's launch, it became known that Rockstar ended up cancelling single players DLC for GTA 5 in favor of more GTA Online content.
With continued growth and success, Rockstar released GTA Online as a standalone title in 2022 following the launch of Grand Theft Auto V Expanded and Enhanced, allowing gamers to purchase just the multiplayer mode at a lower price, without access to the singleplayer GTA 5 game.
GTA Online's storyline in the base, launch version of the game begins several months before the main storyline of GTA 5. Players create and customize a character who arrives to Los Santos and throughout the course of their progression interact with a number of characters who appear in the single player game's story.
Throughout the updates released over the year, in-game time has progressed and the story, loose as it is to accomodate open ended multiplayer gameplay, has also progressed ahead.
GTA Online's gameplay very closely matches the gameplay of GTA 5, reusing almost all mechanics and controls with some additions facilitating social play in a multiplayer environment. Additional mechanics allow players to adjust the level of interaction with other players, such as 'Passive Mode', and a great number of competitive and cooperative game modes, such as Heists, Adversary Modes and several Businesses were added over the years further separating GTA Online from GTA 5.
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