But. Let's all remember the launch of GTA 5 for a moment, shall we? The game turned a profit within hours and broke $1 Billion in revenue within the first three days. Back then, Online wasn't even live yet, and the multiplayer mode was viewed with suspicion by most fans. Even Rockstar, by its own admission, didn't have big plans for the mode and expected it to only be played by a small portion of the fanbase.
Let's also remember that the voice of the players matters to Rockstar. The Bikers DLC is proof of this, as the announcement of that particular update was preceded by a fairly popular petition to add biker themed content to the game. Not only did Rockstar satiate this desire, but they included pretty much every proposed feature drafted in the petition.
The number of votes in this poll may not be too high, but it does confirm the trend that we've seen hints of in the community for years. No matter how many Shark Cards are sold, no matter how many individual players log in to GTA Online every week, no matter how many free updates are release, there will always be demand for more story content.
While today, GTA Online has become an unstoppable juggernaut of popularity, becoming the central financial pillar Take-Two Interactive leans on, it's important to keep its roots in mind, and that historically, GTA was always primarily a single-player series, with multiplayer being a relatively recent addition to the franchise.
Rockstar created something truly amazing with the immersive and vibrant world of GTA 5's story mode. It's no surprise that the game's single player portion is what gained all the praise from critics and players in the early days after release. GTA 5's solo campaign is worth revisiting with new content, and the player base knows it.
While it's true that from a business standpoint, the unfortunate truth is that making paid Story DLC just might not be worth it as much as making Online updates is, it's clear that there is demand for such content among the players. In the end though, it's likely that the economic factor will win over this demand.
Even though Rockstar Games is spread out over several studios, chances are that funding is primarily being funneled into the development of Red Dead Redemption 2. Since it's release is set to sometime next year, the development on the game is near to being wrapped up. That, in the AAA game industry, can only mean one thing: the crunch. This means that the RDR2 project is in need of major funding.
Granted, the kind of revenue Take Two is pulling each month, they have some to spare, but between funding 2K's multiple projects while also constantly developing updates for GTA Online doesn't leave much wiggle room, and a Story DLC would be a bigger investment.
Obviously, if we're talking about paid DLC — and we are — then players expect more content. If Rockstar would release single player DLC for GTA 5, it would have to be a hell of a lot bigger than anything Online ever got. That means new game mechanics, a lot of new vehicles, more voice acting, more motion capture. More detail and planning would be required for the storyline, there would be more animation work and the costs would just keep racking up.
In all likelihood, if Rockstar were to expand the single player experience of GTA 5, they would also expand the game's map in order to make the DLC feel substantial enough to warrant a price-tag after the community has been "conditioned" by three years of free updates to accept having to pay for the content. This would be a massive undertaking on their part.
Unfortunate as it may be, it's very likely that proof of demand for single player DLC will simply prove how many fans will end up being disappointed. The industry as a whole is continually moving towards a more multiplayer oriented direction.
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