Former Rockstar employee sheds light on what happened to cancelled GTA 5 story DLC

A former Rockstar employee has shed some light on what happened to Grand Theft Auto V's planned story DLC. Joe Robino, who worked as a virtual cinematographer at Rockstar from 2010 to 2016, confirms something fans have thought for a long time – story DLC was abandoned due to the success of GTA Online. 

When Grand Theft Auto V launched, Rockstar surprised us all with GTA Online, a companion multiplayer mode set in the same massive open-world as the single-player campaign. Through various leaks and interviews with voice actors, we've known that Rockstar was working on a single-player DLC for GTA 5 shortly after the game's launch in 2013. However, this DLC was eventually scrapped.

Speaking to SanInPlay, former Rockstar employee, Joe Robino, discussed what happened to the cancelled DLC, saying that after launch, a lot of the team went on to begin work on Red Dead Redemption 2. Robino, however, was on a different team, working on “a standalone DLC for GTA that never came out”. According to Robino, this DLC would have heavily featured Trevor.

Unfortunately, the immediate success of GTA Online, which went on to generate billions of dollars, led to the cancellation of the single-player DLC.

“It was really really good. But when GTA Online came out it was so much of a cash cow and people were loving it so much that it was hard to make an argument that a standalone DLC would outcompete that. I think looking back now you could probably do both. But that was a business decision they made. I was a little upset about that”, Robino said.

Rockstar has never publicly confirmed that it was working on a GTA 5 DLC. Apparently, some of the ideas planned for the cancelled DLC did eventually make it into GTA Online in later updates.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Not having a single-player DLC for GTA 5 was a missed opportunity. At this stage, I wouldn't expect another single-player DLC from Rockstar again, but I would love to be wrong about that when GTA 6 rolls around. 

Become a Patron!