Former Rockstar Employee Explains What Happened to Canceled GTA 5 DLC

A former Rockstar employee has shed some light on what happened to the planned DLC for Grand Theft Auto V. Joe Robino, who worked as a virtual cinematographer at Rockstar from 2010 to 2016, confirms what fans have long believed: the DLC was scrapped due to the success of GTA Online.

When Grand Theft Auto V launched, Rockstar surprised us all with GTA Online, a multiplayer add-on mode set in the same open world as the single-player campaign. Thanks to various leaks and interviews with voice actors, we knew that Rockstar was working on a single-player DLC for GTA 5 shortly after the game’s launch in 2013. However, that DLC was ultimately scrapped.

In an interview with SanInPlay, former Rockstar employee Joe Robino discussed the fate of the canceled DLC, saying that after launch, much of the team went to work on Red Dead Redemption 2. Robino, however, was part of a different team, working on “a standalone DLC for GTA that never came out.” According to Robino, that DLC would have heavily featured Trevor.

Unfortunately, the immediate success of GTA Online, which generated billions of dollars, led to the cancellation of the single-player DLC.

“It was really, really good. But when GTA Online came out, it was such a cash cow and people loved it so much that it was hard to argue that a standalone DLC could top it. I think in hindsight, we probably could have done both. But it was a business decision that they made. I was a little upset about that,” Robino said.

Rockstar has never publicly confirmed that it is working on DLC for GTA 5. Apparently, some of the ideas planned for the canceled DLC ended up making their way into GTA Online in later updates.

KitGuru says: Not having single player DLC for GTA 5 was a missed opportunity. At this point, I wouldn’t expect another single player DLC from Rockstar, but I’d like to be proven wrong about that when GTA 6 comes out.

Become a patron!