Success at a Cost to Creativity

After over a decade of waiting, the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 is bound to have a massive impact on both Rockstar and the gaming industry as a whole, but it’s not without its drawbacks. The unparalleled popularity and long lifespan of Grand Theft Auto 5 Online have encouraged more than a few controversial decisions for the studio, with GTA 6 possibly cementing its fate even further.

One of the biggest complaints about GTA Online is how difficult it can be to accumulate enough in-game currency to access even a small portion of the available content, which often encourages the use of purchasing Shark Cards with real money. Rockstar also abandoned their expansive story DLCs, like another Undead Nightmare, in favor of multiplayer content, which still pales in comparison to the absence of Rockstar’s other legendary titles.

Rockstar Is More Than The GTA Studio

A Diverse Skillset That Feels Limited By The Standard GTA Formula

While there’s no doubt we’ll get more gaming experiences from the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption worlds, there’s not as much room for experimentation for Rockstar’s smaller entries. Even if they weren’t as commercially successful, games like L.A. Noire, Max Payne, and Bully were incredibly creative entries that helped establish the studio’s unique skill sets.

Thankfully, the release of the massively popular Red Dead Redemption 2 shows the studio still has room for amazing games that aren’t just more GTA titles. Still, it sets a gameplay precedent that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon. With both games relying on live service elements and an expansive world that can be ported over into multiplayer, there is little room for the smaller experiences of Rockstar’s past, outside its two biggest franchises.

GTA 6 Will Be Great, But It Comes At A Cost

It’s Unlikely Rockstar Will Experiment With Creative Spinoffs Anytime Soon

The lengthy development and delays of GTA 6 have been the source of endless jokes and criticisms over the years, but its biggest drawback is how much of a limiting factor it has been for the studio as a whole. Even if GTA 6 lives up to the genre-defining expectations of the studio, its success could mean another five years of sparse multiplayer updates before its next big release.

Especially if GTA 6‘s multiplayer ends up achieving the same success as its predecessor, it could very well be the final nail in the coffin for the more outside-the-box gameplay experiences that the studio used to be known for. Even if it’s unlikely for Rockstar Games to create surprising spinoffs, while RDR and Grand Theft Auto 6 remain its biggest money-making titles, there’s hopefully still room for experimentation with unique gameplay mechanics or minigames that shine in their previous titles.

Grand Theft Auto 6

Released

May 26, 2026

Engine

Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE)

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Steam Deck Compatibility

yes

Xbox Series X|S Release Date

May 26, 2026