GTA 6 is a “single-player experience” only, Rockstar clarifies

Rockstar Games finally answered some burning questions about the November release of Grand Theft Auto 6, detailing price, special edition bonuses, and pre-loading details on Wednesday ahead of the game’s pre-orders going live on June 25. Rockstar also made one thing explicitly clear in its latest round of updates: Grand Theft Auto 6 is a single-player experience.

That detail is included in game descriptions on PlayStation.com and Xbox.com, after detailing one of the pre-order bonuses for Grand Theft Auto 6: a free month of GTA Plus, Rockstar’s subscription service that provides benefits for Grand Theft Auto Online.

Here’s Rockstar’s official language:

Receive a month of GTA+ with your pre-order; must be redeemed within 180 days after placing your pre-order. Subscription redemption is not available to child accounts with restrictions on age-restricted content. You will receive a pop-up notification on your console when your GTA+ subscription month is available to redeem. Open the Store, select your profile icon in the top left corner, and select “Offers & credits” to find and redeem this offer. Limited to one redemption per Platform Account.

Grand Theft Auto VI is a single-player experience.

GTA Plus subscribers also get access to the GTA Plus Games Library, which offers a selection of classic Rockstar Games titles, including Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.

Rockstar’s confirmation that Grand Theft Auto 6 is strictly a single-player experience leaves the future of Grand Theft Auto Online uncertain. The popular online mode is a cash cow for Rockstar and publisher Take-Two Interactive, and is regularly updated with new content for its rabid fan base. Rockstar will release a major update for GTA Online, The Kortz Center Heist, in July. Rockstar shows no signs of slowing down on support for GTA Online, which will likely stand alongside GTA 6 for many years to come.

When Grand Theft Auto 5 was released in September 2013, it was a single-player experience. But Rockstar was developing GTA Online in tandem with GTA 5, and released the online multiplayer component two weeks after the open-world crime drama launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Rockstar has continued to update GTA Online since then, and released the multiplayer mode as a stand-alone download in 2021.

In time, some of the new and unique features of Grand Theft Auto 6 may ultimately come to GTA Online. Rockstar is certainly pushing its audience to upgrade to the Enhanced versions of GTA 5 that were released on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, making that update free. But Rockstar and Take-Two know not to mess with success; when GTA 6 finally arrives this November, then maybe we’ll find out about changes to GTA Online and maybe even get that highly anticipated PC version as well.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X on Nov. 19.