GTA V & GTA Online PS5 and Xbox Series Versions Releasing Next Month, GTA VI On The Way
On March 15th, Rockstar Games will release the enhanced and expanded edition of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S with new graphics modes capable of 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, various texture and draw distance upgrades, HDR implementation, ray-tracing, faster load times, 3D audio, haptic feedback, and much more.
Anyone coming from the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One versions of the game can transfer story mode progress as well as their GTA Online progress as part of a "one-time migration", which sounds like the same migration process PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners went through when upgrading to the PS4 and Xbox One versions of GTA Online.
As of the time of publish, it's not exactly clear whether the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will be a free or paid upgrade path from PS4 and Xbox One. For clarification on the upgrade path, I've contacted Rockstar and will update this story with their statement.
GTA Online will be available at launch as a standalone version for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. PlayStation 5 owners will receive GTA Online free of charge for the first three months, while Xbox Series X|S owners will have to pay an as-of-yet unannounced price.
This new version of GTA Online will receive a variety of new onboarding features like the ability to skip the prologue of GTAV's story mode and a brand-new tutorial.
New players will now enter something Rockstar is calling the Career Builder, granting instant access to one of four Businesses - Biker, Executive, Nightclub Owner, or Gunrunner - as well as GTA$ to help players purchase a property, high-end vehicle, and tons of weapons. Returning players also have the option to restart their character and use the Career Builder at any point.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of GTA Online will include a new auto shop called Hao's Special Works that's located within the LS Car Meet, and will allow players to upgrade 5 new vehicles and 5 existing vehicles at launch "for elite driving performance that takes full advantage of the upgraded power of new console hardware."
With this announcement, Rockstar also confirmed that, after almost nine years of Grand Theft Auto V being on sale, a new Grand Theft Auto game is in development. It'll be interesting to see what Rockstar has learned from releasing GTA V on three generations of consoles and how GTA Online has influenced their development strategy.
Recently, GTA Online received a DLC called The Contract, a Franklin-based story set years after the ending of GTA V's campaign, and co-starred Dr. Dre himself.
Until next time!
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