It’s easy to forget how long it’s been since the last time Rockstar released a totally newGrand Theft Autogame.GTA 5came out forthe Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3in September 2013, with its standalone multiplayer modeGrand Theft Auto Onlinelaunching a few months later.
However, after almost a decade of support on seventh-generation consoles,Grand Theft Auto Onlinewill soon depart the platforms. Rockstar plans to shut down the servers for the 360 and PS3 versions tomorrow, December 16.
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This event should not be much of a surprise, asRockstar Games announced the impending shut downin June of this year. In addition to shutting down the servers, Rockstar will stop selling Shark Cash Cards for the seventh-gen versions ofGTA Online. The publisher will also be shutting down the Rockstar Games Social Club features for those versions ofGTA Onlineand other games. These include leaderboards, multiplayer, and stat tracking for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions ofGrand Theft Auto 5,Grand Theft Auto Online,Max Payne 3, andL.A. Noire.
Importantly, Rockstar confirmed that 360 and PS3 players can still experience the single-player content forGTA 5,Max Payne 3, andL.A. Noire. The company also clarified that it plans to continue supporting the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, even as they work toward releasing the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S ports ofGTA Onlinein March of next year. This includes continuing to releasenew content forGrand Theft Auto Onlineon both the next and last-gen consoles.
Rockstar Games never expressly stated its reasons for shutting down the 360 and PS3 versions ofGTA Online. However, it almost certainly has to do with a declining player base on the seventh-gen hardware. Unfortunately, Rockstar Games doesn’t publish its player numbers by console. Thus, it’s unlikely that anyone outside the company knows precisely how many people still log in on the older systems. However,after eight years and two new console generations, the overwhelming majority ofGTA Onlineplayers have likely migrated to either newer consoles or PC.
Continuing to support the 360 and PS3 versions ofGrand Theft Auto Onlineis undoubtedly a drain on resources. While it’s debatable how much of a drain it is, Rockstar’s evidently decided thatit’s no longer profitable to keep the old servers running. At least Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users still have one more night ofGTA Online.
Grand Theft Auto Onlineis available on PS3 and Xbox 360 until December 16. It will remain available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One and will arrive on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in March 2022.
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