During your typical late afternoon news dump yesterday, IGN published a story both confirming that a new installment in the “Grand Theft Auto” series while also considering making changes to their design process to minimize the “crunch culture.” This may come as a surprise too many but after co-founder Dan Houser announced he was leaving Rockstar Games out of no where last month due to the heavy workload that comes with working at such a prestigious studio, it isn’t shocking that Rockstar is carefully looking at themselves in the mirror. Not only is Grand Theft Auto a household name but Rockstar Games has established themselves as a top of the line studio just as much as it has for their best selling series.

From the teenagers of today who may not even know of the early GTA games, to our older relatives who have never even picked up a controller, everyone knows of Grand Theft Auto. With that reputation, comes a major responsibility to deliver the best entertainment possible. We as gamers are lucky to see a new installment in each Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption once a decade. While many understand and respect the time, dedication and attention to detail Rockstar puts into every title, not all are as welcoming.

Twitter blew up with people left and right bitching that the game is still in early development. I know these people only play sports games, GTA and any free game they find, but they still annoying the ever living shit out of me. How are you gonna bitch about a game still being in early development when the next-gen consoles aren’t even close to being completed. Did you really think the new GTA was gonna be released the same way GTA 5 was at the tail end of the 360? Fuck no.

Now I know it was silly to imagine never getting another GTA game, call me old school but I still get excited when things are finally confirmed. I’ve been waiting for a new release out of Elder Scrolls longer than I have Grand Theft Auto so for all you assholes bitching that GTA is in the early stages, I’d love to get my balls tickled with just an announcement of the new Elder Scrolls.

An anonymous source close to Rockstar Games has confirmed to IGN that the Red Dead Redemption 2 company is next working on a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, as first reported by Kotaku.

Kotaku’s report, which places a larger focus on workplace changes allegedly happening at Rockstar following the massive discussions on crunch in game development that centered around Red Dead Redemption 2, also notes, however, that the next GTA is “early in development.” The report further goes on to explain that, due to the changing nature of conditions at Rockstar, the company is considering ways of altering production to avoid similar crunch issues. One such plan is to allegedly have the next GTA, whether it be called GTA 6 or some other title, be “a moderately sized release (which, by Rockstar’s standards, would still be a large game) that is then expanded with regular updates over time, which may help mitigate stress and crunch.”

As a gamer, it is hard to read stuff like this and not feel bad. We bitch and complain about the game we play because of how much we like them and we just want them to be perfect. Something that too many of us this think is not a difficult task. The next time you bitch and complain about the current state of Modern Warefare or the newest installment of MLB The Show, remember that a lot of these devs and coders are working 70+ hour work weeks. I know it is the nature of places like Reddit and Twitter to highlight the negativity but it is starting to get out of hand.

I think a new approach to the design of Grand Theft Auto could be very refreshing. Sure the single player experienced has gotten significantly better across GTA 4 and even more so in GTA 5, but at the end of the day, the biggest experience and moneymaker is GTA online. Has GTA 5 been out for 7 years? Yes it has. Is GTA online still an incredibly fun and filled with a ton of content? Absolutely.

I would have zero complaints if GTA 6 was released with the single player storyline completed and the foundation set for online. Rockstar has already shown that they aren’t gonna make any of their online expansions cost any money. If the DLC is free you have absolutely nothing to bitch at. If you’re one of those people who bitch about shark cards, go headbutt a knife. Like just don’t fucking buy them. IT IS THAT SIMPLE! The bottom line is I have no problem running over hookers and blowing up random ass strangers online for longer if it makes for a more smooth rollout and less developers wanting to jump off a bridge halfway through the work week.

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