In a move that shouldn’t come as a surprise, Rockstar has announced that GTA Online will be shutting down its servers for the PS3 and the Xbox 360 on December 16 this year. The multiplayer component that came with GTA V will have completed eight years online since its arrival back in 2013. That said, it will still continue to work on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
This decision has been taken in lieu of launching GTA Online for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles later this year. The launch will bring the multiplayer portion to its third console generation to date. Needless to say, the GTA V campaign will remain unaffected on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, however, Shark Cash Cards will no longer be sold for PS3 and Xbox 360 after September 15.
GTA Online had already been experiencing a low player count on these two consoles, ever since Rockstart stopped adding new content to it in 2015. The developer had cited the limited technical capabilities and storage space of the machines for this move.
The Rockstar Games Social Club will also stop stat-tracking and multiplayer support for two other games from Rockstar – Max Payne 3 and LA Noire. Max Payne 3 has competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes, while LA Noire has no multiplayer component, so it’s only the stat-tracking that will stop.
Rockstar will release GTA V for the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S on November 11 this year. These versions will be replete with new technical enhancements and performance upgrades that will take full advantage of the advanced capabilities of these new-gen consoles.
Meanwhile, one more E3 went by and we still haven’t received any info about GTA 6, which is most definitely under development from Rockstar.