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Grand Theft Auto Online just had its best money-making quarter ever

K

Khezu

Member
On one hand I don't really like GTA's single player at all, so I don't care if it never comes back.

But on the other hand I don't want to play a GTA game that forces me to grind to unlock things.
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I basically haven't played GTAV at all yet but after finally trying San Andreas (and after the last several years of open-world games), I think I understand why GTA Online has taken over: Linear quests and missions are often the worst parts of open-world games.

This is especially true of open-world games that actually manage to provide effective, engaging sandbox elements. Think of how a lot of people play Far Cry just to run around and clear bases. Think of how the sailing and piracy part of Assassin's Creed Black Flag was the best part of the game. Part of the reason Breath of the Wild is so good is because in the proportion of overall gameplay time you're rarely in a quest. Right now I'm enjoying San Andreas more for the world than the missions. I'm not even sure I like the missions at all to be honest. The most fun part about the game is simply earning money in a bunch of different ways.

It really hearkens back to the Elite-style free-form "fight, trade" game. These games are at their best when they put the player in the middle of the world with a bunch of systems and simply says "go." Minecraft is pretty much the same thing. Trying to limit these worlds to linear storylines just holds them back in most cases.
 
Y

Yukinari

Member
Its like if GTA Online was bearable to play or use then maybe i could praise them but it really isnt.

We've had so many threads about GTA Online and yeah theres obviously whales out there supporting it but its just depressing.
 
M

Machinehead

Member
Isn't the game only discounted in online frontstores in bundles with shark cards (or whatever is the name of the money bundles)? I bet that skewed results a little.
 
A

Ash735

Member
The success of GTA Online was already having an effect on future Rockstar projects anyway. RDR2 might be the last real Single Player game they'll do.
 
S

Saganator

Member
I'm guilty of dropping a $20 a couple times when they released some good sized updates. GTAO has its flaws, but every time I come back to it I have a blast, so whatever. I'd probably play it a lot more if I had friends who played it.
 
U

UtterlyPerplexed

Member
It's making all this money for them and yet I legitimately have not met or heard an actual person talk about this game.

Cranster said:
All of that money and they are still too cheap to give us actual single player story content.
Click to expand...

Right now it's just a case of...what's the point? GTA Online is easily one of the most prolific money printers on the market right now and the operating profits it alone brings in should be eye-watering as it is. They easily could invest in more single player story content at this juncture and still make money off of it, but there's no point from their perspective because they're not going to get anywhere near as much out of it than if they sit back now and just watch the money come in.

And I don't blame them in a begrudging kind of way. It's a sad sight and another painful reminder of what the triple-A industry is like these days, but at least they're not totally abandoning single player story content entirely, what with RDR 2 on the horizon (unless they make that disappointingly anaemic in favour of the online component...). They haven't fully gone down the Valve route yet.
 
H

-Horizon-

Member
Still shocking to me how much online is making them even years later. Makes me wonder who are these people that continue to get this game.
Felt like it should've plateaued a while back.

Then again I go to youtube and twitch and still see people streaming it.
 
C

Comrade Crunch

Member
I kind of miss the simple pleasures of GTAIV and RDR multiplayer, I just wanna run around in the open world with friends, messing around. To even attempt to recapture that in GTAO takes hours of grinding for experience and money.

Kind of sad that because of the incredible success GTAO has had it means that RDR2 online will probably be really similar.
 
S

Spring-Loaded

Member
RedSwirl said:
I basically haven't played GTAV at all yet but after finally trying San Andreas (and after the last several years of open-world games), I think I understand why GTA Online has taken over: Linear quests and missions are often the worst parts of open-world games.

This is especially true of open-world games that actually manage to provide effective, engaging sandbox elements. Think of how a lot of people play Far Cry just to run around and clear bases. Think of how the sailing and piracy part of Assassin's Creed Black Flag was the best part of the game. Part of the reason Breath of the Wild is so good is because in the proportion of overall gameplay time you're rarely in a quest. Right now I'm enjoying San Andreas more for the world than the missions. I'm not even sure I like the missions at all to be honest. The most fun part about the game is simply earning money in a bunch of different ways.

It really hearkens back to the Elite-style free-form "fight, trade" game. These games are at their best when they put the player in the middle of the world with a bunch of systems and simply says "go." Minecraft is pretty much the same thing. Trying to limit these worlds to linear storylines just holds them back in most cases.
Click to expand...

I haven't played GTA:O in years, but when I dropped it, it was because of how restrictive the process was of getting to the fun parts. The game didn't just drop you into a bunch of the in-game systems—it was mostly grinding short/lame linear missions to gain access to more (regular-ass) weapons/vehicles. All the smaller dev- or player-made game types—of which quite a few were actually fun—were often impossible to start with the terrible matchmaking and lobby system. Even when playing with a group of friends, it was so frequently a matter of trying to game the system and bypass oppressive content gating just to have fun.

I wish it was what you described because the potential of a non-restrictive GTA online with proper infrastructure for its content would be a dream game.
 
E

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
You know ... with R* i have this ability to dream big and hope they actually deliver so this doesn't worry me too much.

I would be actually AMAZED by a proper gang setup so i could get into online with my friends easily in RDR2, mob around as a Western Cowboy badass with my friends.. .have random shootouts, roll around hustlin cattle, robbin banks and shit?

It could be something really fucking special...

AFTER i beat the single player story. Don't let me down you beautiful fuckers...
 
mario_O

mario_O

Member
we're fucked. forget about story dlc in future gta's.

i tried gta online a couple of times, and it sucks. trapped between with connection errors and infinite loading screens.
 
sensui-tomo

sensui-tomo

Member
I play this on and off again on pc, its the goto game for whenever i'm truely bored of trying to finish my backlog, kinda play it in short bursts like i do with musou games, just some mindless fun. (GTA's web letter keeps sending me money oddly enough. hell they've given me over 3mil at this point just for playing)
 
B

Brine

Member
I don't understand how GTAO is thriving. It's not even that good. Like if the same game came out separately with a different name it would've failed already.
 
V

Vital Tundra

Member
Duchess O'Death said:
I've never felt so upset about a game that I LOVE! being successful.
Click to expand...
Kinda feel the same. Honestly this doesn't mean anything at all good for the franchise. Single player DLC is dead, and the online in GtA6 won't be any better with microtransactions so expect a massive grind, and expect 1 in Red Dead as well.
 
Smiles and Cries

Smiles and Cries

Member
I really want to jump back in but I stopped playing because I was spending like $50-$100 very often just to buy new cars and stuff

I can't do it... this type of system is too much for my wallet
 
M

Mass Effect

Member
I guess you could say Take Two is on a money-making mission and they party like a Rockstar.

...this is an awful joke that no one will get.

ezekial45 said:
I'm wondering if they cut plans for the single-player DLC in favor of supporting the online mode.
Click to expand...

It's possible, especially since GTA IV's DLC underperformed.
 
lem0n

lem0n

Member
It's like real life! Everything is getting more and more expensive!

I remember when a million bucks was insane money for a car! Got you the Adder! Now you can't get the hottest toys on there for less than 2.5 or so. Fucking ridiculous. They're seeing how far they can push their luck and how expensive they can make the stuff they release where people will still buy Shark Cards. I can't stand it. You don't have to buy them, I get that, I'm level 280 or so and haven't spent a dime on GTA$ but less patient players make this sort of practice possible.
 
M

MiamiWesker

Member
I hate this, I want single player GTA. This is going to ruin everything.

*looks at take two stock, up 8 points!!!!!*

Never mind, keep it going! Please keep buying worthless crap!
 
G

GunBR

Member
RedSwirl said:
I basically haven't played GTAV at all yet but after finally trying San Andreas (and after the last several years of open-world games), I think I understand why GTA Online has taken over: Linear quests and missions are often the worst parts of open-world games.
Click to expand...
I don’t agree with this opinion (I need a quest or something as an objective to have fun with a game), but I understand that a lot of people think like this.

Probably the number of gamers that never beat any GTA but spent almost (or over) 50, 70, 100 hours just having fun killing and blowing everything on the city must be huge
 
KyanMehwulfe

KyanMehwulfe

Member
Brine said:
I don't understand how GTAO is thriving. It's not even that good. Like if the same game came out separately with a different name it would've failed already.
Click to expand...
If it's not good, what's an example of a better open world MP game that offers the same mixture of driving, racing, flying, shooting, character customization (namely through 1000s of clothing options) and base building?

GTA Online has some inherent flaws that make it difficult to ever be superb... the way it handles loading and matchmaking has always been a struggle. And a pricing model clearly based on shitty RMT.

But there's no game that even comes close to offering what it does. There are games that do each niche better. For example, GR Wildlands co-op infiltration missions are more fun. But that's all it does. It doesn't do a quarter of what GTAO does, and the other things it does (e.g. driving or flying) are complete shit.

I feel like a lot of folks on GAF shit on GTAO just out the SP idealism. Every GTAO thread reminds me of a mobile threads. A lot of deserved criticism but sometimes it feels people aren't making an effort to make an argument for their criticism, and just shit on it because 'not SP.'

And trust me, there is probably no one on GAF more annoyed by the lack of SP in GTA V. I have a pretty expansive Youtube channel (it's not popular; just saying I am vested bias toward SP~) that focuses purely on GTA V SP. I've put over 1000 hours into just playing as Trevor (the CEO) in GTA V. There's probably no one that hates more than me that GTAO keeps getting CEO, heists, club house, smuggling, etc content while my GTA V playthrough gets nothing.

But even then, GTA Online has become a pretty awesome game. The amount of shit they've added in single patches even makes GTA SA side content look like GTA1. And if you ignore the cheesy progression system, which is not that important to a lot of the core experience, GTA Online is a pretty awesome platform to just go explore San Andreas with your friends, start a MC club, role play cops, whatever. The business model revolves around the cash grind but similar to MGS V, you don't HAVE to let the grind matter that much -- there's tons of fun to be had by ignoring it. You don't need to actually own the super cars or a yacht to have a blast with stolen cars, explore with friends, or have fun in lobby games.

Again, I'm not defending GTA Online outright per se (and forgive me for quoting just you; this is sort of a response to the thread). Rockstar CLEARLY prices GTAO based on making RMT profits off of whales, and that sucks. That deserves all the criticism it's receiving. And, as I said, I pretty much exclusively play SP in terms of hours /played. No one is more bitter over no SP content than me, I assure you =p Over a 1000 into SP; barely a 100 maybe in MP. But even then, GTAO gets a pretty unfair shake here sometimes, and I think people focus too much on its business model and don't give its pretty remarkable selection of content a fair shake.
 
S

samred

Member
one interesting note from the Q1 report, which I wrote up at Ars:

Take Two's GAAP net revenue and net profit forecasts for the entire 2018 fiscal year shrank as a result of this quarter's report (down roughly $300,000 and $400,000, respectively), owing to "higher expected internal royalties driven by the strong performance of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online."
Click to expand...

Not sure if that means somebody worked themselves out a really sweet royalty-based contract that would only pay off if GTA Online kicked serious ass. But that's quite a bite off annual profit forecasts...
 
V

valkillmore

Member
samred said:
one interesting note from the Q1 report, which I wrote up at Ars:



Not sure if that means somebody worked themselves out a really sweet royalty-based contract that would only pay off if GTA Online kicked serious ass. But that's quite a bite off annual profit forecasts...
Click to expand...

Shot in dark, but could this relate to musicians whose music is featured in the game getting a 'bonus' of sorts?
 
G

Guess Who

Banned
GTAO is one of those examples of the disconnect between the hardcore gamers and the mass market. GAF never talks about it but it’s absolutely massive among the more casual GTA audience.
 
MisterHero

MisterHero

Super Member
Yeah I guess people realized that "free content" wasn't free at all. I respect their choice to buy into the new content (paid expansions are a good idea anyways), but it just proves that in-game progression is diminishing returns
 
N

Neo Sentai Gafman

Member
This makes me worry about Red Dead Redemption 2, they might not focus the single player aspect of the game. I'm not buying RDR2 in day one, I'll wait for a discount when it comes out.
 
B

Brine

Member
KyanMehwulfe said:
If it's not good, what's an example of a better open world MP game that offers the same mixture of driving, racing, flying, shooting, character customization (namely through 1000s of clothing options) and base building?

GTA Online has some inherent flaws that make it difficult to ever be superb... the way it handles loading and matchmaking has always been a struggle. And a pricing model clearly based on shitty RMT.

But there's no game that even comes close to offering what it does. There are games that do each niche better. For example, GR Wildlands co-op infiltration missions are more fun. But that's all it does. It doesn't do a quarter of what GTAO does, and the other things it does (e.g. driving or flying) are complete shit.

I feel like a lot of folks on GAF shit on GTAO just out the SP idealism. Every GTAO thread reminds me of a mobile threads. A lot of deserved criticism but sometimes it feels people aren't making an effort to make an argument for their criticism, and just shit on it because 'not SP.'

And trust me, there is probably no one on GAF more annoyed by the lack of SP in GTA V. I have a pretty expansive Youtube channel (it's not popular; just saying I am vested bias toward SP~) that focuses purely on GTA V SP. I've put over 1000 hours into just playing as Trevor (the CEO) in GTA V. There's probably no one that hates more than me that GTAO keeps getting CEO, heists, club house, smuggling, etc content while my GTA V playthrough gets nothing.

But even then, GTA Online has become a pretty awesome game. The amount of shit they've added in single patches even makes GTA SA side content look like GTA1. And if you ignore the cheesy progression system, which is not that important to a lot of the core experience, GTA Online is a pretty awesome platform to just go explore San Andreas with your friends, start a MC club, role play cops, whatever. The business model revolves around the cash grind but similar to MGS V, you don't HAVE to let the grind matter that much -- there's tons of fun to be had by ignoring it. You don't need to actually own the super cars or a yacht to have a blast with stolen cars, explore with friends, or have fun in lobby games.

Again, I'm not defending GTA Online outright per se (and forgive me for quoting just you; this is sort of a response to the thread). Rockstar CLEARLY prices GTAO based on making RMT profits off of whales, and that sucks. That deserves all the criticism it's receiving. And, as I said, I pretty much exclusively play SP in terms of hours /played. No one is more bitter over no SP content than me, I assure you =p Over a 1000 into SP; barely a 100 maybe in MP. But even then, GTAO gets a pretty unfair shake here sometimes, and I think people focus too much on its business model and don't give its pretty remarkable selection of content a fair shake.
Click to expand...

There probably isn't. I wouldn't know. It's filling a gap but none of the features are done too well, personally. It's not bad, just not as good as it could be. I'm mostly disappointed by it myself because I was so hyped for it back then when it was first released, probably more so than the single player 😔
 
oneils

oneils

Member
LycanXIII said:
Planned to end this year because RDR2 was supposed to come out this year. It'll end once RDR2 comes out, and that support will end with the next GTA.
Click to expand...

If they continue making a couple hundred million dollars a quarter, would they really end support?
 
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