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Final yr, footage of the following Grand Theft Auto—assumed to be GTA 6—leaked on-line. Whereas Rockstar shortly tried to erase the movies from the web and plug the holes within the ship, it was unattainable to fully comprise such a massive, unprecedented leak. So followers around the globe received an excellent have a look at the way forward for Grand Theft Auto. And now myself and others discover it onerous to return to the growing old GTA On-line.
Late on September 19, 2022, 90 quick movies of early gameplay of what would later be confirmed by Rockstar as the following GTA entry leaked on-line through a hacker. The footage revealed a lot about the next game within the massively fashionable open-world franchise, together with that the sequence could be returning to Vice Metropolis, Florida, a fan-favorite location final seen in GTA: Vice Metropolis Tales, the prequel to the beloved PS2 traditional, GTA: Vice Metropolis. It additionally gave us a great have a look at the brand new protagonists of this subsequent prison journey and among the missions we would expertise when GTA 6 is finally launched. Fans even began mapping out the game’s virtual world utilizing the leaks.
Rockstar undoubtedly hates the leak and certain needs it may rewind time and stop it from ever taking place in any respect, however it did find yourself revitalizing the playerbase. For the primary time in a very long time, there was pleasure and power within the GTA group, which after years of GTA Online updates and poorly received remasters was in a reasonably unhealthy place previous to the leak. Even an early, unfinished or unpolished leak of GTA 6 was higher than radio silence and glitchy remasters. Folks have been pumped and hyped about the way forward for Grand Theft Auto in a manner I hadn’t seen in years.
However then, as soon as the leaks have been scrubbed from the online and it grew to become clear Rockstar wasn’t going to launch any official teaser or trailer to capitalize on the second, all I and different GTA followers may do was return to GTA On-line. And that’s tougher to do now that I’ve seen the long run.
The most recent large and free growth to GTA On-line, Los Santos Drug Wars, was launched late final yr at a extremely unhealthy time for me to play and canopy it for the positioning. So I simply…didn’t play it. For the primary time ever within the historical past of GTA Online, I skipped a brand new replace fully. I’ve nonetheless not performed it. At first, I blamed my skipping of the newest replace on unhealthy timing and a busy schedule attributable to holidays and end-of-the-year content material. However now, weeks faraway from all that, with extra free time to play stuff, I’ve nonetheless not fired up the brand new replace. And I feel it’s time to confess to myself that my rising burnout round GTA On-line was elevated drastically by that small style of what’s to come back. That have a look at the way forward for GTA in Florida ruined me.
I may return and drive across the similar highways and streets of Los Santos I’ve been cruising round since 2013. I may hearth up the sport and take a look at the most recent enterprise and missions linked to it. I may, positive. The factor is, I don’t know if I wish to. I imply, finally, I’ll play extra GTA On-line. I kind of should because it’s a part of my job right here at Kotaku. But, if it wasn’t a part of my profession there’s an actual likelihood that I’d simply by no means play GTA On-line once more.
To be clear: It’s not as a result of GTA On-line is worse as we speak than it was a decade in the past—it’s really a lot better to play in 2023 than in 2013—however as a result of getting a glimpse of a recent new world has killed my need besides up the identical previous Los Santos after a decade of GTA On-line and GTA V. I imply, simply having new songs on the radio might be superb. I really like Queen’s “Radio Ga-Ga” however you may solely hear it so many instances in 10 years earlier than you’re prepared for brand spanking new tunes, too.
At this level, I’m hoping the wait for Grand Theft Auto 6 and its sunny seashores, palm bushes, and new characters isn’t an excessive amount of longer, as a result of I’m prepared to depart Los Santos behind for a tropical trip to Vice Metropolis.
