Whereas the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 did not precisely launch as anticipated, the truth that nothing has been mentioned a few PC model is disappointingly regular for Rockstar. It was the identical with Pink Lifeless Redemption 2: the sport’s official announcement got here in October 2016 solely for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC players needed to wait three years to listen to the information that they’d get to finally play the sport.
The factor is, these days, there’s simply no good motive for such a delay.
In years previous, builders ignored sure platforms as a result of the {hardware} merely wasn’t as much as the duty of dealing with the sport or the internals have been so marked otherwise to the principle goal that the quantity of labor required to transform the code simply wasn’t financially viable.
This merely is not the case anymore, because the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Collection X/S are primarily simply AMD mini-PCs. The APU that powers these consoles is not anyplace close to as potent as a PC sporting a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Radeon RX 7900 XTX mixture, however that form of {hardware} configuration is not widespread: The majority of PC players have mid-range techniques, with a efficiency not too dissimilar to a PS5 or XBSX.
By way of programming, whereas the {hardware} is not precisely the identical as a typical gaming PC, Microsoft’s console makes use of DirectX 12 Final because the API for dealing with graphics, audio, knowledge streams, and so forth. Similar to your PC does. Sony makes use of a proprietary API for its console however any developer that is acquainted with utilizing Vulkan for graphics will not battle with it.
Smaller or much less skilled groups could run into difficulties or monetary constraints in making a PC port, however Rockstar falls into neither of these classes. It has been round for 25 years, employs hundreds of individuals, and has a number of studios throughout the globe. GTA V is likely one of the best-selling video games of all time, and GTA On-line offers substantial yearly income.
Typically, although, a writer will dismiss releasing a sport on a selected platform, or considerably delay it, as a result of the market is not sufficiently big. Within the case of GTA 5, it does appear to be the case that the variety of lively gamers on Steam seems to be a comparatively small portion of the whole userbase. However that sport could be performed on an enormous number of techniques: PC, PlayStation 3, 4, and 5, and all the Xbox One and Xbox Collection variants, in addition to a number of various launchers exterior simply Steam.
GTA 6 is being launched on simply three platforms: PS5, Xbox Collection X, and Xbox Collection S. As in style as these machines have been, the variety of PC players out there’s not small compared to them. I’ve completely little doubt that GTA 6 would prime the PC gross sales charts for months, if it was launched alongside the consoles in 2025.
It’s price stating that numerous the PC ports launched this yr weren’t nice and if 2023 goes to be remembered for one factor, the iffy high quality of them stands a superb likelihood of taking the highest slot. You may argue that Rockstar would possibly wish to keep away from those self same issues and postpone asserting the PC model till it is pleased with the general high quality of the port, however that did not precisely go to plan with Pink Lifeless Redemption 2.
Nothing was mentioned about that sport for 3 years after it was first introduced for the consoles however when the PC model lastly arrived, Rockstar had thrown a lot extra graphics malarky at it, RDR2 ran jankier than a one-legged tortoise.
Video games do not should be additional particular, sporting the most recent rendering expertise, to be in style with PC players. Simply have a look at Baldur’s Gate 3 to see what I imply. No ray tracing or uber-graphical results are in play; it is merely a rattling good sport.
The reality is the shortage of any particulars a few PC model of GTA 6 has nothing to do with something technical, however is just a advertising and marketing selection. The one factor that many PC players are going to do is mod the heck out of the sport, as quickly as they’ll, and GTA 5’s Scorching Espresso state of affairs left an enduring impression on Rockstar. It would wish to guarantee it has as a lot management as potential over mods, to forestall the identical factor from occurring once more, and never having to cope with any mod controversies or fallout round the principle launch is probably going very fascinating.
And there is the easy indisputable fact that income figures will get an additional second bounce, presumably lengthy after the preliminary torrent of {dollars} from the console launch. GTA 6 can be extremely profitable however no writer is ever going to disregard a chance to get a second glut of revenue. So whereas there is not any technical motive why GTA 6 cannot be launched on PC and consoles concurrently, Rockstar’s choice exhibits it is nonetheless as savvy as ever relating to pure enterprise.