"At almost 10 years old, that’s a really cool thing to be able to do." "Frankly, there are so many cool ideas and directions we can take, and it’s great to still surprise our players and give them something to be excited about," says Butchard. The Criminal Career builder that was introduced with the launch of GTA 5 on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S last year, for example, aims to help new faces find their feet in San Andreas, while things like the roving Gun Van might appeal more to veteran players. He says that so many changes start out as suggestions from the community, and evolve through the lens of the team's own hopes for the game and where it might go next. It’s something we wanted to present as a design choice, rather than as an externally pushed event, so it felt native to the world and the player experience."įor Butchard, the fact he and his colleagues have grown up alongside the GTA Online community means that he's pleased with the balance between community feedback and the team's own design emphasis. "We’d had the idea of community-based objectives for a while. Taking The Criminal Enterprises as an example from last year, we wanted to expand a number of businesses that have been in the game for years and breathe new life into them, while at the same time provide a strong set of classic missions like Operation Paper Trail for those players that like to take on story missions instead of the more business side of things." Crowd control
"Part of the decision process when coming up with new updates is how they can complement other areas of the game as well as offering something new to engage with. "With there being such a large and varied amount of experiences in GTA Online at this point, there is always that challenge of trying to keep things fresh that’s going to appeal both to our veteran audience and any new players that may be playing it as their first bit of gameplay beyond the tutorial." "Every update we add gives us a chance to receive player feedback that can help us with new ideas, such as giving our gearheads a world with Los Santos Tuners and a space to house their cherished rides with the new 50-car garage on Eclipse Blvd as well as consider how we can tweak existing content to improve the overall experience, such as cycling out modes on a regular basis," says Bell.
Bell reckons no two days are the same behind the scenes, and that with every update he and his team get the chance to listen to what players want to see moving forward.
Lead designer Chris Bell echoes Butchard's sentiments by saying working on such a massive, long-term project as GTA Online can at times feel surreal, but is also hugely rewarding when received by such a large community.
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