GTA 6 is going to pose an interesting challenge for Rockstar Games. Why that is plus data on GTA Online‘s player count has been revealed. All of this comes from analytics firm Ampere Analysis who recently shared a detailed dive into what’s next for GTA Online and what Rockstar Games will have to navigate with GTA VI.
As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, console gamers have not fully switched over to the current generation of consoles. It was not too long ago that Sony told us around half of all PlayStation users are still on PS4 and have not upgraded to PS5.
Many people believe GTA VI will be the catalyst that converts people to current gen but some will remain on PS4 and continue to play GTA Online. In fact, GTA VI’s expected record-breaking launch has a lot riding on it. Some within the games industry believe this is the ticket out of stagnation and decline in video games financials. Ubisoft’s CEO just this month told investors GTA usually helps the company sell more copies of their games like Assassin’s Creed.
Insane GTA Online numbers
According to Ampere‘s Games Research Piers Harding-Rolls, GTA V/GTA Online routinely hits over 20 million users ever month when you combine PlayStation, Xbox and PC. For example, in both April and May, GTA Online had just under 21 million users.
Then following the Bottom Dollar Bounties release, the game had 25.11 million active players in June. The highest player count in a month over the past 12 months was in December. That was down to the release of The Chop Shop DLC and hype for GTA VI after its first trailer.
GTA V was the most downloaded PS5 game in June according to Sony. It was also one of the most downloaded PS4 games. For more details on charts from June, check out our round up here.
Data firm Ampere also state that the PS4 “remains the most active platform by some distance” over PS5, PC, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. This might surprise people as so many PS5s have now been sold in nearly 4 years since launch. On top of that, GTA RP with the PC version is hugely successful on social media and content creation. It’s likely far more people enjoy watching GTA RP than playing the game.
GTA 6 Online
Whilst many more gamers will upgrade their consoles before GTA VI comes out, Ampere Analysis “expects Rockstar to continue operating GTA Online for the foreseeable future, but this will mean maintaining multiple communities as the user base is split following the launch of GTA VI.” That’s assuming a new GTA Online comes with GTA VI.
From launch, it is likely that today’s GTA Online will be de-prioritised to an extent as the resource focus shifts to GTA VI Online, but while both games are running Take-Two will be looking to maintain a consistent revenue stream from recurring in-game and premium subscription spending across both experiences.
Piers Harding-Rolls, Ampere Analysis
We’ve not seen this sort of challenge undertaken by Rockstar Games before. GTA IV’s online was not much of an ecosystem like GTA Online is nor had as many players. Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Online also were similar in that sense as well.
The GTA community have a lot of questions like “Will we have to start over?”, “Can we bring our character to Vice City?” in regards to the next version of GTA Online. It will be very, very interesting how Rockstar Games handle the transition from GTA Online to GTA VI’s Online mode.
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