Last night saw the very first gameplay of Grand Theft Auto 6 revealed to the world with a 26-minute extended look dropping on both Netflix and then YouTube a few hours later. The video gave gamers a deep dive into the relationship between Jason and Lucia, what they’ll be getting up to in Vice City, and a much better look at how the most anticipated game of the decade will actually play.
While GTA fans are mostly delighted with what they saw, there was one glaring omission from the entire presentation – where on earth is GTA 6 Online?
Launching just two weeks after the release of GTA 5, GTA Online has turned into a massive cash cow for Rockstar Games, estimated to be bringing in over $1m per day. It seems inevitable that GTA 6 will also get an online multiplayer mode at some point, but what has Rockstar said about it so far?
GTA 6 Online – what we know so far
So far, Rockstar Games has said practically nothing about an online mode for GTA 6. In fact, it’s gone so far as to explicitly specify that GTA 6 will be a ‘single-player only experience’ in the game’s FAQ section.
Even Strauss Zelnick, the Take-Two CEO that’s shared a lot of the limelight in the run-up to GTA 6’s launch, has said very little about a prospective GTA 6 Online.
When the game launches on November 19, 2026, it certainly looks like we’ll be rocking around Vice City in a purely single player game. Given the game is estimated to take around 80 hours to complete by just mainlining the story, we’ll likely have plenty to keep busy with for a while.
That being said, it’s highly likely that we’ll see a GTA 6 Online mode launch for the game at some point. The mode simply makes too much money for Rockstar and Take-Two to ignore, and with GTA Online soon entering its 13th year of operation, it looks likely that the team will wave goodbye to Los Santos and welcome online players to the shores of Vice City.
As for when that will be, we’re not sure. GTA Online launched two weeks after GTA V, while Red Dead Online arrived a month after Red Dead Redemption 2 hit consoles.
If it doesn’t arrive at launch, I can’t see GTA 6 Online landing that close to Christmas – especially since Rockstar staff will likely need to be on hand to fight any fires around its release. Instead, it’s likely we’ll see an online mode towards the start of 2027, giving players time to properly immerse themselves in this new version of Vice City and experience its single player in all its glory before jumping into a more casual online experience.
We’ll report back as soon as we hear official confirmation that GTA 6 Online is coming to the game.
