Grand Theft Auto Online is not a permanent service and will likely be rested at some point down the line, Take-Two’s CEO has said.
Speaking at the Cowen & Company Media, Technology and Telecom Conference this week (via GameSpot), Strauss Zelnick indicated that developer Rockstar won’t support GTV V’s online component indefinitely despite its huge financial success.
"We do expect GTA Online’s results to moderate because October will be three years since we released it," he said. "Not only was it not our intention that GTA Online was permanent, but it’s important that it not be permanent. We have to rest the franchise at some point."
Despite this, GTA Online isn’t going anywhere just yet, with multiplayer crime opus set to receive its biggest expansion to date with Further Adventures in Finance and Felony, due on June 7.
GTA V is nearly three-years old but continues to prove a huge money maker
Grand Theft Auto V was released in September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with GTA Online going live in early October the same year. The game proved a massive success, picking up rave reviews and going on to ship 65 million units worldwide.
Rockstar later ported the open-world adventure game to PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One, with current-generation systems receiving a host of improvements to visuals, frame rate and the addition of a first-person view mode.
Despite chatter of single-player downloadable content not long after GTA V’s release, Rockstar has instead focused purely on the online portion of its critically acclaimed crime romp by releasing various multiplayer content.
Last November, Take-Two said that GTA Online attracts around eight million players per week.
Read our review of GTA V on PS4.