Just ahead of the launch on October 1st, Rockstar has rolled out additional information for GTA Online, the multiplayer extension to GTA V. The official post on their page confirms a lot of what we already knew while also verifying a few things we also already knew.
The Rockstar Games page reiterates what we already covered yesterday, noting that yes the game will launch with only 16 players active in each instance. I thought it was odd they prefaced the description of 16-players with “from launch”, but it's safe to say that you won't be engaging with more than 16 people on your Xbox 360 or PS3, despite the config files saying otherwise (PC version perhaps?).
They also roll out a few other details we mentioned in the other article, including ranks for jobs, and something you may not have known: reputation points for mini-game activities. You can score cash and rep from just about any and everything you do in the game, especially pulling off heists, committing crimes or preventing crimes.
Another thing you may not have known about is the upcoming Capture-the-Flag mode as well as additional content that Rockstar plans to release... for free. Yeah, despite them confirming that the game will have microtransactions available that you can purchase with real money, they make it known that some of the content they make available and roll out for GTA Online will be free.
Something worth noting is that heists won't be part of the initial launch of GTA Online. Now that they mention it, I don't actually remember seeing them in the mission scripts but I may have to check again. According to Rockstar, though, the update to include complex multi-person heists will also be free, stating on the web page that...
Just to be clear, all of these updates will be free. We’ll have more info on this and much more additional content as our plans develop through the launch period, and as we get feedback from you. Please stay tuned for further info and updates. And remember – we need your help to make this experience all it can be.
Robbing ATMs, other players and sticking up local joints will still be in the game, however. One thing I'm curious about is how the player housing will work... I mean, it just doesn't seem possible to have a house space available for each player or do they instance like in MMOs or what? I'm curious to see how that works out.
Rockstar does warn, however, that when the game launches its online component there will be bugs, glitches and potential server issues. It's pretty obvious that the servers will be extremely crowded when they go live on October 1st.
In the meantime, you can still enjoy the single-player campaign and try to get as much finished as possible before you embark on the great journey into GTA Online.
Of course, the company has still yet to make any mention of the next-gen or PC rendition of GTA V, but I'm hoping that announcement comes sooner rather than later. The fact that the base PC assets are already finished is the thing that makes the wait so much harder.
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