Rockstar Games developers initially expected GTA Online to fail

Former Rockstar Games developer Matt Freedman has revealed that the development team initially viewed GTA Online as an ‘afterthought’ and expected the mode to fail upon launch.

In an interview, Freedman noted that the online component was originally very light on content, with QA testers reporting as little as four hours of gameplay available at the time. While the studio had released trailers and media previews for the mode, its massive success caught the company off-guard.

The unexpected popularity of GTA Online led Rockstar Games to scrap planned single-player DLC for Grand Theft Auto V to redirect resources toward supporting the online phenomenon.