It originally dropped in 2013 and has had a longer lifespan than any other game in the franchise. The previous longest gap was five years, between the adventures of Niko Bellic in GTA IV and the arrival of Michael, Trevor and Franklin. Fans look set to wait even longer for the potential follow-up, and much of that wait is down to the success of GTA Online.
The online features have taken over from the original story and let players loose in Los Santos to live their own adventure. Gamesindustry.biz reports it is the most profitable entertainment product of all time, which has given it a life of its own, outside of the main game. It has been constantly updated with the additions of a nightclub in After Hours and motorcycle gangs and hideouts in Bikers.
One of the most popular updates came in 2019 when Rockstar finally opened the doors of the Diamond Casino and Resort. It gave players a chance to win big playing several casino games, as well as adding vehicles, property and missions. Since then, the Cayo Perico Heist has also been added, but players keep gravitating back to the casino.
Why? There is a daily challenge where you spin a wheel and maybe win a vehicle, as well as the range of casino games to play. However, as it approaches its two-year anniversary, the casino needs freshening up a bit, and it could be an easy win for Rockstar to keep the game alive whilst GTA VI is developed. So, here are a few ideas we would like to see implemented in the game.
Horse Racing
The Diamond Casino added a simulated race event, where you could use in-game currency to have a day at the races, in theory. With an actual racetrack outside the casino, why not expand this to a fully-fledged horse race event for players? Rockstar could even link it to their Red Dead Redemption Online game, where your horse could be transferred over. Ok, so there might be issues regarding when the two games are set, but aliens have visited Los Santos, so a bit of Back to the Future-style time travel would surely work? If they are unwilling to go that far, perhaps an add-on that utilizes the La Fuente Blanca ranch, offering you the option to buy and train racehorses would work?
Texas Hold‘em
The casino games that are offered are fun, for a while, but they could be shaken up a little with an add-on. One huge disappointment was the inclusion of three-card poker over something like Texas Hold‘em. The latter is a game based more on skill, and it tends to be more involved also. It has been used with success in Red Dead Redemption, so why did Rockstar pick a much blander poker variant? By changing the game, they would not significantly alter the concept for GTA fans, even those not familiar with poker. The handy guide to hand rankings on Poker.org shows that they remain the same whichever variant you are playing, the method by which the cards are dealt is a significant difference. By switching to Texas Hold‘em, the basic rules remain the same, but players would doubtless become more engaged.
Revamp the Wheel
The wheel must change! Nobody wants to win XP anymore, most of the players are so far past worrying about levels. The cars on offer are not always attractive either, and how many players have a garage full of cars won at the casino which they never drive? Mixing up the prizes on the wheel, maybe more in-game cash prizes and weapons might go down well. Also, instead of cars every week, why not drop the odd luxury property on there, a nice mansion in the hills for example? Property does not have a major function in the game, but it is nice to own, and players perhaps do not spend their in-game money on nice houses because they are limited. This might draw players into more shark cards too if they were given interior design options to customize on those properties.