Summary
Grand Theft Auto Onlinehas been an absolute juggernaut of not just the video game industry, but the entire world of entertainment. Released in October 2013, two weeks after the base game,Grand Theft Auto Onlinegave players an experience unlike any other at the time, delivering a gigantic open-world sandbox for players across the world to mess around in together. Though it was a little barren on launch,GTA Onlinebegan receiving fairly consistent updates from Rockstar, with each one adding new vehicles, weapons, and missions. And though all of it could be accessed via grinding for in-game currency, it’s much easier for players to just buy Shark Cards.
Over the last decade,Grand Theft Auto Onlinehas apparently made around $8 billion in revenue, being far and away the most profitable entertainment product ever made. It’s only natural, then, that Rockstar will probably want to carry the success ofGTA Onlineinto its next mainline entry. And while there’s plenty that a potentialGrand Theft Auto 6multiplayer modecould learn fromGTA Online, there’s a lot it could teachGTA 6’s single-player as well.
Grand Theft Auto Online’s Business System Could Work Well in GTA 6
How Businesses Work in Grand Theft Auto Online
Originally launched as part ofthe Bikers DLC update,Grand Theft Auto Onlineadded businesses all the way back in 2016, allowing players to set up a consistent means of earning passive income. The first set of businesses released were the Motorcycle Clubs, allowing players to set up a documentary forgery office, a meth lab, a weed farm, or a few other criminal ventures. Once the player has their club’s location picked out, has their first warehouse, and has set up their first business venture, they can then start earning in-game cash by delivering their goods once the product is ready.
Over the next few years, Rockstar would add toGrand Theft Auto Online’s businesssystems quite a bit. Both special cargo and vehicle cargo warehouses were added toGTA Online, along with an update that allowed players to become the CEO of their own business, and eventually, nightclubs and underground bunkers were added to the game. All of these functioned pretty much the same, requiring players to keep an eye on the business' stock and ship products once they were ready to be sold.
How Businesses Could Be Expanded in Grand Theft Auto 6
Businesses have become a staple feature ofGrand Theft Autoover the last seven years or so since their introduction inGTA Online, and there’s plenty of room forGrand Theft Auto 6to double down on the mechanic, even in its single-player campaign. Taking place inVice City,GTA 6’s settingwould be perfectly suited to a vast range of potential player-run businesses, and there are two main ways Rockstar could implement the feature into the game’s single-player mode.
The first way is by making businesses play a major role inGrand Theft Auto 6’s story mode. While fans only know a little about Lucia and Jason’s upcoming story, it seems like there’s room there forthe Bonny and Clyde-like duoto use their money to start building a criminal enterprise, one that would see players invest in new businesses across Vice City, and have to reach certain milestones to progress the main narrative. This has the potential to immerse players intoGTA 6’s world far more than any previous entry has, using the core business concept to introduce plot beats and character arcs naturally over time without the use of mission markers.
Alternatively,Grand Theft Auto 6could simply add businesses as side content for the game’s single-player mode. Here, players could invest in a side hustle and slowly build it up over time, with the primary reward for doing so not being main story content, but instead new weapon and vehicle unlocks. Or, players could be given the option to invest in a legitimate business, which would simply yield monetary rewards.
Grand Theft Auto 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
