The video game series Grand Theft Auto is certainly controversial, but it is also one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time.
Created by Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto brings players action and adventure, each entry in the series being completely different from the last, giving fans a fresh new story with every game. Each one takes place in a fictionalized version of real-life cities, such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Grand Theft Auto lets players play in an open-world setting, where they complete missions, sometimes in a nonlinear fashion, to progress an overall storyline.
Grand Theft Auto has been in headlines since its first inception in 1997. Many believed the game to be too graphic and mature, as many of its players are younger than the games’ suggested ages of 17 and older. Players get to commit objectionable acts, such as killing people, stealing cars and paying for prostitutes, all of which is off-putting for parents of younger players. Many researchers have cited Grand Theft Auto as a major source of violence in video game players when wondering whether violent video games lead to aggression in gamers.
Nonetheless, Grand Theft Auto has become a critically and financially successful game series.
The franchise’s most recent release, Grand Theft Auto V, dropped in 2013 with over $1 billion in sales within its first week and broke six Guinness world records, including “Fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion,” “Best-selling videogame in 24 hours” and “Highest-grossing video game in 24 hours.”
Grand Theft Auto V, often abbreviated GTA V, was praised for its graphics and mechanics, as well as its movie-like storyline and its inclusion of three playable main characters — the previous games let players play only a single protagonist.
And although the game came out over seven years ago, people still tune in to play its popular online mode, GTA V Online, where players get to play with others from all around the world. With regular updates, extra storylines and fully customizable characters and cars, players have free will in whatever they want to do in the online mode, greatly enhancing its replay value.
Rockstar Games’ other popular franchise, Red Dead Redemption, got its sequel released in 2018 with Red Dead Redemption 2, almost eight years after the first game’s release. This begs the question for Grand Theft Auto fans: Since it has been nearly seven years since GTA V came out, when will Grand Theft Auto VI be released?
Unfortunately, fans of the action video game will have to wait a little longer, as Rockstar Games has yet to announce its release. Throughout the past several months, rumors have surfaced, some saying that GTA VI will be released within the next few months, others predicting it will have a release date much further down the line.
With no updates of a new installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, fans have resorted to speculating and expressing their wishes on what they would like to see in the next game. With that being said, here are some things Rockstar Games might implement in Grand Theft Auto VI.
Multiple (and New) Locations
As mentioned above, the previous GTA games have taken place mainly in one location each game. For example, GTA: San Andreas takes place in a fictionalized amalgamation of San Francisco and Las Vegas, while GTA: Vice City is located in the game’s version of Miami.
Many players praised the accuracy of Los Angeles — called Los Santos in the game — in GTA V. The game developers paid lots of attention to the setting and many of the locations seen in the game match exactly how they look in real life.
This is what GTA VI should have. The level of detail makes the game much more fun as players get to explore a city they may or may not already live in.
However, they should choose a whole new city — or even cities. Some fans may be tired of the game taking place in California, so it would be a great opportunity for Rockstar Games to have GTA VI take place in a different city for players to explore. To make it more immersive, they could even have multiple cities, maybe even countries. It would be interesting to allow players to fly from one city to another to complete certain missions.
Multiple Protagonists
One of the best things about GTA V is the fact that players have the ability to change characters between missions, allowing them to play three different characters with clashing personalities.
This not only makes gameplay much more enjoyable but also engaging as they invest their time and energy into knowing each of the three protagonists.
Although it may seem like a lot of work for Rockstar Games, it would be a disservice to fans if they were to just stick to the same character throughout an entire game, as in the first four installments of Grand Theft Auto.
For the past year, there have been rumors of GTA VI possibly having a female protagonist, and to that, I say yes. Every GTA game has been male-driven, so it may be time to have a woman be a main character too. Besides, it would be interesting to have a female criminal joining the fold of male characters; it may lead to some engaging power struggles.
New Time Period
Most of the GTA games have taken place in the present day, the exception being GTA: Vice City. Having the game situated in a different time period might provide more story possibilities.
Rockstar Games could also use this opportunity to weave in real-life events during whichever time period they choose to set GTA VI in. They did the same for GTA: Vice City, which took place in the 1980s, using real-life people and events, such as the crack epidemic, to depict the time period.
Time-Spanning Storyline
Character development and arcs are some of the most important aspects of a story. They get people invested more in the characters by seeing them grow.
To that end, the newest Grand Theft Auto should implement this into its plot, as it has not yet been done in their previous games. Perhaps the game can start off with the protagonist(s) as young criminals, and throughout the game, players would be able to see the characters grow — both literally and metaphorically.
Keep GTA Online
One of the things that keeps players tuned into GTA V is its online mode since they are able to roam around freely and with their friends. There are plenty of things players can do in GTA Online that they don’t necessarily get to do in the story mode.
As such, Rockstar Games might lose out on money if they were to get rid of this online multiplayer mode, since many players use their real money to buy in-game items. Even better, the players should be able to keep their accounts from GTA V so that they won’t have to restart and level up from scratch all over again.
All in all, these are just wishes. Fans of GTA probably will not know what is in store in the next installment until Rockstar Games makes an announcement. Still, fans are full of anticipation and cannot wait to see what’s next for the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
