Why Are “Rockstars” Silent?
OPla G
15 Jan 20:00
7
1For more than a week, since the 7th and January’s offers in Red Dead Online, there have been no updates or posts from developers, even though the weekly bonuses in GTA Online and the monthly benefits for GTA+ subscribers have already changed. Some have speculated that this silence is related to an impending announcement about GTA 6 or a next-gen version of GTA 5. While this could be true (more on that later), you’d expect some information to have been revealed by now. The real reason likely lies elsewhere.
Last Tuesday, massive wildfires broke out in Los Angeles, burning over 16,000 hectares (an area larger than Paris), destroying thousands of structures, and continuing to rage. To better illustrate the scale of the affected areas, someone mapped the fire zones onto the GTA 5 map.
There were even rumors online claiming that the real-life counterparts of Michael’s house and Grove Street were destroyed. However, this is not true. The first claim used a last-year photo of a house in San Francisco that wasn’t the inspiration for De Santa’s mansion. The second claim is even simpler to debunk: photos of a burned-out cul-de-sac are unrelated to the famous street. There are countless similar areas across the U.S., and the one that inspired the devs is located in the southern part of the city.
So, what about Rockstar Games, whose office, incidentally, is in LA? There’s a theory that the media silence is due to the fact that the recently bonus week featured the release of the Vapid Firebolt ASP pickup truck. Normally, new vehicles receive prominent advertising, but in this case, it might have been deemed inappropriate due to the model’s name. Unlike some fan accounts suggesting Grand Theft Auto Online should end with a map-wide fire destroying everything, Rockstar seems unlikely to adopt such a dramatic finale. For example, developers of another game marked the end of their virtual world by having meteorites fall, but when the original GTA Online for PS3 and Xbox 360 was retired, the servers were simply shut down with no grand event. Besides, it’s too early to discuss such ideas, and suggesting something similar right now would be insensitive.
We expect that later today, detailed information about the new weekly event starting Thursday will be sent to select fan resources, as usual. By tomorrow, Rockstar themselves are likely to break their silence.
Last Tuesday, massive wildfires broke out in Los Angeles, burning over 16,000 hectares (an area larger than Paris), destroying thousands of structures, and continuing to rage. To better illustrate the scale of the affected areas, someone mapped the fire zones onto the GTA 5 map.
Attention! This is a heavy file. Click on the map to view it in full size.
So, what about Rockstar Games, whose office, incidentally, is in LA? There’s a theory that the media silence is due to the fact that the recently bonus week featured the release of the Vapid Firebolt ASP pickup truck. Normally, new vehicles receive prominent advertising, but in this case, it might have been deemed inappropriate due to the model’s name. Unlike some fan accounts suggesting Grand Theft Auto Online should end with a map-wide fire destroying everything, Rockstar seems unlikely to adopt such a dramatic finale. For example, developers of another game marked the end of their virtual world by having meteorites fall, but when the original GTA Online for PS3 and Xbox 360 was retired, the servers were simply shut down with no grand event. Besides, it’s too early to discuss such ideas, and suggesting something similar right now would be insensitive.
