Why GTA Online's New Update Has Fans Worried About GTA 6
We barely know the release window for "GTA 6," but we definitely know there's plenty of time left to wait. In the meantime, fans are filling their gaming schedules with "GTA Online." Over the past ten years, Rockstar Games has continued to grow the online portion of "GTA 5," bringing a truly incredible amount of new players to the game. However, fans haven't loved every decision the developer has made in the past decade, and the most recent update is really rubbing people the wrong way.
The biggest issue that players are having with the update is the way it's actively encouraging people to subscribe to GTA+. Premium subscriptions are nothing new, and in theory, Rockstar's monetization plan for "GTA Online" is supposed to give subscribers access to bonus goodies while still keeping a level playing field for everyone else in the game. In this case, the new update locked a quality of life update that fans have wanted for years behind the GTA+ subscription, and a large number of players feel like it's a slap in the face from Rockstar.
The push for more monetization isn't the only thing that fans are concerned about. Rockstar also rolled out a new language filter for in-game text messages and organization names, and fans aren't at all happy with the way it's been implemented. These two changes are relatively small issues in isolation, but together they've got the "GTA" community worried about the direction Rockstar is going to take with "Grand Theft Auto 6."
QoL for cash
Subscriptions for online games are nothing new, but Rockstar doesn't actually require you to pay a monthly fee just to play "GTA Online." Instead, the company encourages players to subscribe by offering extra in-game cash, a large garage, and other fancy perks. In the latest update, the devs added a method for GTA+ subscribers to collect money from their various businesses through an app on their phone (rather than have to visit the business' actual location), and the community isn't happy about it.
Players have spent years asking Rockstar to add a feature like the new cash-collecting app. Now that the devs have finally done it, players feel like the company has been listening to their feedback for all the wrong reasons. "So many players requested this feature, yeah they're 'listening to our feedback' and figuring out how to monetize it," wrote one commenter on Reddit.
"Why are they locking key features to the game behind a subscription paywall," wrote another player. "Things like this are why my hope for 'GTA 6' is slowly starting to dwindle." While some players are focused on these features, others are drawing much more dramatic conclusions from this update: "Plot twist, you gotta have GTA+ to play online," predicts one fan. Rockstar hasn't said anything about what online gameplay will look like for "GTA 6," but fans are worrying that the company is only thinking about the game in terms of its own bottom line.
is the language filter going too far?
In other threads, players are discussing the way that Rockstar expanded the in-game language filter in this latest update. Suddenly, organization names that players have been using for years are being flagged as inappropriate.
Making an online community feel inviting to everyone who plays is part of a developer's job, but players really feel like Rockstar is overstepping with its filter. Names that reference drugs are banned, even though the entire "Grand Theft Auto" series is obviously filled with drug references. Names that reference real companies, including Rockstar, are also banned. Players are especially upset that their former organization names are getting flagged and reverted to "An Organization," because changing your organization name requires payment.
Players are also noticing that Rockstar implemented non-English language filters in the sloppiest way possible. "You can't say 'ridiculous' now either because 'culo' is a swear word in Spanish," one commenter pointed out. Blocking people from typing drug references and swear words in text messages when the game is all about selling drugs and doing crime seems pretty nonsensical, but when the filter doesn't even work as intended, players get understandably frustrated. Rockstar hasn't addressed any of these new fan complaints just yet, but the community is hoping that decisions like these won't carry over into "GTA 6."