Former Rockstar technical lead Obbe Vermeij has said early stabs at GTA 3 multiplayer included a basic version of a deathmatch-style mode.
Of course, GTA deathmatch goes all the way back to the PC version of the original 1997 title, and was continued in GTA 2, but GTA 3 never got official multiplayer support. We've also known for a long time now that Rockstar originally planned to add multiplayer to GTA 3 but ultimately decided to dedicate those development resources to Vice City.
Now we know a little more about how far along GTA 3's multiplayer element was in development before it was canceled. Vermeij was speaking with a fan who asked about multiplayer mods on Twitter today when he revealed, "Yes we knew about them. We always wanted to add a multiplayer game to GTA (I actually got a basic deathmatch going for GTA3) but we never found the time to do it properly. Pretty impressive achievement of the modders to do it without source code."
Yes we knew about them. We always wanted to add a multiplayer game to gta (I actually got a basic deathmatch going for gta3) but we never found the time to do it properly. Pretty impressive achievement of the modders to do it without source code.October 2, 2024
Ultimately, Rockstar's multiplayer ambitions culminated in GTA Online, the multiplayer component of GTA 5 that's been pretty darn active for 11 years now. We don't know exactly how much revenue GTA Online alone brings in, but a frankly stunning report from 2022 claimed the online game earned Rockstar half a billion dollars in microtransactions alone in 2019, and several estimates put its total revenue north of $7 billion.
It's unclear what form GTA Online will take when GTA 6 launches in (hopefully) fall 2025, but I think it's safe to say Rockstar is keen on keeping it around for a while.
Vermeij recently said GTA 6 will sell "for 10+ years," and because "there is no competition" Rockstar is "not going to release the game until they're 100% happy with it".
