Ahead of the imminent launch of Grand Theft Auto Online, Rockstar has offered new details regarding the multiplayer component.
The title update for GTA 5, which will activate the multiplayer component, will be available October 1 at 7am ET (in the US and Canada) and 9pm Eastern Australian time. Specific times for the UK and Europe are forthcoming.
Rockstar writes that these are "general timeframes", meaning the update may not be available on the dot for all users across both PSN and Xbox Live.
ZoomThe company recommends checking its Rockstar Newswire regularly for up to date details on the launch.
Along with the confirmed timeframe, Rockstar has offered new details on how GTA Online will function.
In order to prevent griefing, Rockstar has made house visits friendly, meaning that other users will not be able to destroy your property or steal your cars.
For more information on GTA Online, visit our hub which gathers everything you need to know about the game. The GTA 5 o'clock team has also delivered their impressions on GTA Online from the closed beta test.
The title update for GTA 5, which will activate the multiplayer component, will be available October 1 at 7am ET (in the US and Canada) and 9pm Eastern Australian time. Specific times for the UK and Europe are forthcoming.
Rockstar writes that these are "general timeframes", meaning the update may not be available on the dot for all users across both PSN and Xbox Live.
ZoomThe company recommends checking its Rockstar Newswire regularly for up to date details on the launch.
Along with the confirmed timeframe, Rockstar has offered new details on how GTA Online will function.
In order to prevent griefing, Rockstar has made house visits friendly, meaning that other users will not be able to destroy your property or steal your cars.
There's plenty of havoc and treachery you can cause out in the open world of course, but in order to prevent some really annoying "griefing", we've designed house party invitations specifically to be a friendly social affair where players can visit each other's pads without fear of having them ruined or losing their hard-earned vehicles in the process. If someone invites you into their property, then it is considered a friendly visit and you will not be able to shoot up their place or steal their cars from their garage. By the way, in any given lobby, if you and another player own the same piece of property, you will each be able to enter your own personal instance of that property at any given time. You will also be able to enter each other's instance of that property if you exchange and accept an invite. This way, multiple instances of ownership of the same property within a lobby can co-exist.
Rockstar has also moved to assure users that the game's microtransactions will not allow characters to buy their way up the food chain. The GTA Reputation Points system will require users to have attained a certain rank before gaining access to advanced items.
To allay some concerns we've heard on this subject, we can assure you that the game is designed such that the option of purchasable GTA$ should not disrupt the playing field - and there are a few mechanics in place to help ensure that. All players still have to rank up with Reputation Points (RP) in order to get access to purchase high-end items. No one can begin GTA Online and simply spend a lot of money out of the gate to get a leg up. You will have to earn your stripes and play to unlock access to the aspirational clothes, guns and other items. Please also remember that in GTA Online, hustling to afford the finer things by earning GTA$ doing robberies, stick-ups, winning races and other profitable activities is a fun gameplay experience rather than ever being a 'grind'. As we mentioned on Wednesday, we will constantly tweak all areas of the game to make it play fairer and iron out any balancing problems (while fixing all the other problems we encounter!), but we really need your help in figuring out what those issues are. So please work with us on that!
GTA Online will boast a unique character creation system. Rather than shape an avatar manually, users will select the mother and father of their player character and then make a series of decisions that will affect the avatar's appearance.
The hereditary-based character creation system of Grand Theft Auto Online allows for a multitude of options to create your avatar that will then inhabit the online world of Los Santos & Blaine County. Choose your gender then decide on your mother and father. From there, you can choose to give one parent genetic dominance or leave them more evenly matched. The choice is yours. Next, you adjust a set of lifestyle variables which help determine your character's appearance and starting stats. Decide how much sleep he/she gets, how much partying they indulge in, how much honest work versus illegal activity, and more. Essentially, you can adjust the genetics to wind up with a fresh faced lad or lass or a grizzled, haggard degenerate or anywhere in between! You'll also be able to preview your end result in real time all throughout to ensure you're satisfied before putting your character on a direct flight to LS. Of course, once you're out and about in the open world, you can further customize your character with haircuts, clothing and accessories to suit your tastes.
Rockstar has also revealed that GTA Online takes place "a few months" before the events of the single-player campaign.
For more information on GTA Online, visit our hub which gathers everything you need to know about the game. The GTA 5 o'clock team has also delivered their impressions on GTA Online from the closed beta test.