Rockstar today announced the price for this November’s Grand Theft Auto VI, coming in at a hefty $80 for the basic version of the game. In the same press release, however, there was a line that’s gotten people convinced that GTA Online 2 definitely isn’t going to be part of the launch, even if it might not be far behind.
Immediately after revealing the price, in the same sentence in fact, Rockstar’s statement says, “Grand Theft Auto VI features a single-player experience set in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the series yet.”
It may seem innocuous enough, given there has never been any suggestion that GTA6 would be anything other than a solo campaign, but there has obviously been hope that the enormously popular GTA Online would receive an all-new version to be played in the new game’s vast network of cities. And for an audience that scrutinizes every squeaked out fart noise coming from publishers Take-Two and developers Rockstar for the tiniest of possible hints, this stressing of its single-player nature causes immediate discussion. If this is the “single-player experience,” then should we give up hope of getting straight online come November 19? Even Geoffest Keighley is speculating, posting to X that “This seems to suggest online will not be part of the initial launch.”
Rockstar Games has confirmed Grand Theft Auto VI features a single-player experience set in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the series yet.
This seems to suggests online will not be part of the initial launch. pic.twitter.com/hQhlwdiNZY
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 24, 2026
It does seem fairly inevitable that this first GTA game in 13 years could be quickly followed by a whole new version of GTA Online, the multiplayer game that’s kept GTA V alive for over a decade. It would, in fact, be quite bizarre if it weren’t the case. But it’s worth remembering that 2013’s GTA Online launched three weeks after GTA V, with the common belief this was done to allow players to enjoy the single-player campaign somewhat at their leisure before pressure grew to take to the internet.
Should GTA Online 2, or hopefully a better name than that, follow the same pattern and be due this year, it probably won’t be until around the beginning of December. Or, given Rockstar works to its own timetables, it could be in another six months time. The main point is that absolutely nothing has been announced indicating its existence, even though it’d be utterly batshit were it not to happen. Just a couple of months ago we learned from hackers that GTA Online brings in over $1 million a day, even 13 years on. Clearly Take-Two will want to keep that cash coming.