Despite being on the cusp of the Grand Theft Auto 6 launch, we continue to receive insights from the development of Grand Theft Auto 5. A former Rockstar Games developer, Joe Rubino, has shared fascinating anecdotes about a story DLC that was ultimately cancelled in favor of GTA Online. Rubino, who served as an editor and second-unit director on the DLC, described it as a truly “kickass” and “awesome” project. However, the phenomenal success of GTA Online led company leaders to believe that investing in both ventures was not feasible. While he refrained from divulging specifics, he confirmed the involvement of Steven Ogg, the actor who portrayed Trevor.
Rubino explained that the overwhelming popularity and profitability of GTA Online made it difficult to justify the development of a standalone DLC. He acknowledged that in retrospect, it might have been possible to pursue both projects simultaneously. Despite its free-to-play status, GTA Online continues to garner immense popularity, attracting tens of thousands of concurrent players on Steam alone. Grand Theft Auto 5, for its part, stands as one of the best-selling games ever, having surpassed 195 million copies sold as per Take-Two Interactive’s February financials. This remarkable achievement even outshined numerous Call of Duty titles, crowning it as the top-selling game of the 2010s.
While the DLC was ultimately scrapped, its development wasn’t entirely wasted. Rubino revealed that the project was about “halfway” complete, and certain elements were eventually incorporated into GTA Online. At the time, Rockstar Games was simultaneously working on both GTA titles and Red Dead Redemption 2, leading to a reallocation of resources when the DLC was abandoned. Many developers transitioned their efforts to GTA Online.
Rubino, who has since collaborated with Amazon Games and NetEase, offered further insights into the security measures employed at Rockstar Games’ New York City office. He described a multi-layered security process involving three levels of checks to access his area of the company, which was responsible for handling story development and early stages of production.
