GTA Online Set New Records For Player Counts In 2020
The success of GTA Online continued last year, where the game experienced its best ever player counts during another strong campaign that saw the release of new content and musical updates that enthralled players of Rockstar Games' online world. GTA Online may be showing its age visually at times, but the game remains immensely popular, accounting for a lot of Rockstar Games' sustained player engagement over the last few years alongside Red Dead Redemption 2 and the now-standalone Red Dead Online.
GTA Online's 2020 saw the release of The Cayo Perico Heist, the game's biggest adventure yet and a content release that piqued player interest even among lapsed fans who had begun to scale down their involvement in the title. That major update was accompanied by several smaller ones throughout the year, though fans also helped keep the online service lively themselves, helping to organize and execute the GTA Online Alien War that saw Rockstar Games making around $1200 USD a minute at its peak. With both official and fan-made content reaching all-time highs in terms of exposure and depth, it makes sense that 2020 would be one of GTA Online's best years.
Rockstar Games confirmed that new GTA Online player count records were set for the title in 2020, which comes as little surprise due to the influx of content and popularity that arrived with it. In the press release that Rockstar provided to announce the game's success, the developer also noted that Red Dead Online experienced both record-breaking numbers of players total and newcomers in December, more than any other period in the game's history since the Red Dead Online beta first began. Rockstar did not provide specific numbers in the announcement, but it's safe to say that they're impressive given the average player counts these online services often enjoy on an average day.
Rockstar also announced it would be celebrating the new GTA Online player count record with a few bonuses, and players who login before February 12 will be given both a Rockstar Cap and a Rockstar Rolling Tee just for showing up. The company also promised "more celebratory events ripe with Rewards" on the horizon.
The sustained success of GTA Online player counts remains a large reason why Rockstar doesn't feel the need to officially announce GTA 6. The fact is, GTA Online is a much more lucrative model for the company long-term, and if pushing that service for as long as possible takes priority over the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, it's hard to blame Rockstar for doing so.