A plea of desperation
Rockstar games are the biggest game developers in the known world in terms of marketing. Those guys are so in charge of their presence and being that I'll bet there are entities mining away in the mines under Maat Mons on Venus just biting the bloody stumps of their thumbs in anticipation for the next Grand Theft Auto; because that's how well know they are! Of course, when you've built yourself up to that degree there is a certain level of prestige and mystery that needs to be with held for fear of breaking the illusion. That was why they maintained a strict ruling on anyone who so much as touched their demos when they still used to do industry events, it's why they crack down on modders and any former devs who simply want to talk about their experiences online, and it's probably why we'll never get the chance to effect their policy with feedback.
Fan feedback feels like such a win in our modern age of design, like one of the actual advantages of our interconnected age. Whereas once upon a time all we had was the cold hard data of waxing and waning sales figures to inform our creation, now we can hear it from the horses mouth why they hated our products, and then proceed to tell them how wrong they are because astronauts weren't bored on the moon so you shouldn't be bored to trudge across identical landscapes in Starfield, ya dick! I mean sure, on one hand a creator should away be loyal to what makes the product better over what makes an audience feel satisfied, but if there can be a happy medium somewhere along the way that I'm not going to shed any tears, now am I? But that is not the case in the Rockstar household, it would seem.
Over in Rockstar land, they very much want you to know that the buck stops squarely with them in every single regard. If you don't like the way that they utterly refuse to make PC versions of their games on launch, well that's too bad because you're going to wait for a year after every major release for a port. No, they will never take that feedback aboard and start to build the necessary resources and teams to handle such simultaneous ports- because you asked for that and if they did it then that would mean they are listening to feedback. Nothing is worse in the Rockstar ear, than the feedback of your players. People want to tell you how much they love you? Gush about their adoration for the product you made? Disgusting! Hunt them down and sue them to Oblivion, the scum! Rockstar will never be satiated until everyone who has ever played one of their games represents their fandom slowly by the evacuation of their entire bank accounts into the company's personal coffers.
Or at least, that is the only reason I can assume why Rockstar never once acquiesced to the overwhelming fan calling for DLC content to be added to Grand Theft Auto V single player. After Red Dead Redemption enjoyed a second stab at life with Undead Nightmare, proving that Rockstar are still capable of surprising their audience- people expected something similar for Grand Theft Auto V. Only it would be easier for Grand Theft Auto V, wouldn't it? There would be no need to 're rerelease a new version of the game' like they did with Undead Nightmare, splitting up their fanbase in the process. This was the age of DLC! They could throw anything our way as a downloadable packet and we would for sure swallow that up like the greedy little gremlins we are- we love GTA. Everyone does!
And now here we are, more than ten years later, learning from a leak from two Septembers ago how every single proposition for DLC was shot down in the planning stages before ever even being considered for single player production. I mean everything! A North Yankton prequel area expansion? Dead in the waters. An actual real Liberty City expansion- (Yes, they actually considered bringing GTA IV's map into the GTA V world!) murdered in the cradle. Hell, there was even the idea to throw us a bone with some assassination contracts, additions to Franklin's minor side activity, also scrapped in everything but the source code. Why did Rockstar forsake its fans like this? Simple- Grand Theft Auto Online.
Like the gift that keeps on giving, Grand Theft Auto Online is the money printing ecosystem that swallowed all of Rockstar's efforts and interests over the lifespan of Grand Theft Auto V. Not a serious consideration could be afforded any single player's way when more cars, businesses, car parks, heists, clothing, guns, planes, boats, yachts and everything besides had to be fed into the online grinder just to keep players playing and spending year after year. That Single Player DLC nicknamed 'Agent Trevor'? Pretty wacky- why don't we just gut that and stick it in as Money-gated Online content instead? Thus became the fate of everything Grand Theft Auto.
And that sucks because, to be honest, the Grand Theft Auto online experience sucks. The community is non-existent, everything is a tremendous time and money sink with no tangible feeling of progression, everyone drives around in the same supercars or flying rocket-firing hover bikes- I just don't want to engage with it. Grand Theft Auto games have so much single player appeal for people to mess around with years after the main story is done and dusted, but that doesn't make nearly as much money as the GTA Online does- and therefore it isn't even an entity in Rockstar's consideration. But god's above, can I have a little bit of love come GTA VI?
It is ridiculous that Rockstar's audiences have to fight for attention with one another just to get a little bit of support! Red Dead Redemption 2 Online wasn't popular enough and so got scrapped barely two years into it's life cycle, which naturally means the single player isn't deserving of any content either. Don't let that happen for GTA VI! I'm not even asking for an Undead Nightmare, at the very least I'd be happy if their newer online vehicles made it into the base game the way that Grand Theft Auto V refused to let happen under pain of death. I'll take the smallest scrap of the smallest morsel just to prove that I, as a player, am not totally forgotten in Rockstar's eyes. Pretty please!
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