Important to point out that this is just a rumor at this point, however the source is one that’s been consistently reliable for years. Everyone wants to be a GTA leaker these days, and you don’t get big without a good track record. Stay skeptical, but don’t be surprised if this pans out.
In a Tweet, TezFunz2 alleged that Rockstar is shuffling more manpower and funds towards post-launch development on the remasters, basically patching up, updating and fixing The Definitive Edition. The reallocation is happening to such a degree that it might affect the release windows of content heading to Red Dead Online and GTA Online.
There’s a fair chance, release windows for GTAO & RDO updates might be pushed a bit further back than the usual timing. — Tez2 (@TezFunz2) November 23, 2021 Both of Rockstar’s pseudo-mmo multiplayer games get frequent content updates - well, at least one of them does - to keep players sticking around. For years now we’ve settled into a pattern of there being a major DLC for GTA Online at the end of the year alongside a standard holiday event with snow and fireworks launchers. Red Dead Online sort of takes the middle road, with a more unique holiday celebration each year. Typically, the big end-of-year GTA Online DLCs are major hits and contribute a lot to this 8 year old game consistently breaking its own concurrent player record each December. Sure, a lot of factors come together during this time like people generally having more free time, new players joining who receive the game as a gift and folks logging on for the limited-time holiday event, but the big DLCs still made major pushes. Rockstar is known for being a secretive lot, keeping announcements close to their release dates. As such, it isn’t particularly indicative that we haven’t heard anything about the hypothetical end-of-year DLC for GTA Online yet. There’s still almost a week of November to go, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the DLC was revealed and released in December - however, if these new reports pan out, that window might get pushed out to 2022. But hey - starting off the new year strong with a new update is just as good as ending on a high note, right? At least this proves that the company is serious about its intention to salvage the veritable disaster that The Definitive Edition currently is. Pulling resources from the golden child, GTA Online, to patch up a game with potentially irredeemable reputation is a surprising move. This isn’t the first indication we had that Rockstar is taking the issues with The Definitive Edition seriously. A major point of criticism was that the original, non-remastered versions of GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas were pulled from sale, giving fans no alternative to the botched new version. Recently, Rockstar announced that not only are the original versions of the 3D era games going back on sale, but everyone who bought The Definitive Edition will get them for free - at least this way people who bought these games will be able to play versions that aren’t broken, even if they aren’t remastered. Luckily, these predate the involvement of War Drum Studios/Grove Street Games. Knowing that The Definitive Edition is built upon the already flawed basis of the mobile ports, we have to wonder just how much help some patches will be. Nonetheless, we’ve seen plenty of surprising redemptions in gaming, and hopefully this story will have a happy ending too.
