GTA 6 launch files already hint at online multiplayer, PlayStation Store sleuth reports, leading to hopes we won't be waiting for a GTA Online follow-up for long

GTA 6's launch is right around the corner, and according to a PlayStation Store sleuth who almost got the game's monstrous file size totally correct weeks ago, there are already hints of GTA Online's existence – even though Rockstar Games continues to remain tight-lipped on that.

Per PlayStation Game Size on Twitter – best known for posting information about the download sizes of PlayStation games ahead of their launch – a handful of clues have reportedly been uncovered suggesting that GTA Online compatibility is already somewhat present in the game, even if its actual multiplayer component hasn't been added. Supposedly, these are: 'intentType": "joinSession"', 'intentType": "launchActivity"', and 'intentType": "launchMultiplayerActivity"'.

GTA 6 has been billed as a single-player experience, so what reason would there be for an option to join sessions or multiplayer activities if something like GTA Online wasn't being added?

Of course, the assumption amongst fans has been that GTA 6 Online is inevitable – the current version of GTA Online continues to be an enormous breadwinner for Rockstar over 13 years since its launch, so it'd be in the devs' interest to keep the ball rolling there. Beyond that, court documents from the start of the year made reference to now-former devs discussing a "difficult" 32-player session, which would match up with how many players you can fit in a GTA 5 Online session, too.

In terms of this latest 'evidence,' it's wise to take it with a pinch of salt, though PlayStation Game Size does tend to be relatively reliable. A couple of weeks ago, they claimed that GTA 6 would have a 210GB download size, though Rockstar later announced it was a 212GB pre-load. To be fair to them, it wouldn't be unusual to see some fluctuation here if Rockstar had queued up any updates or fixes in the time since their initial post.

So much so, in fact, that in their latest series of posts today, PlayStation Game Size also claimed that the size for the worldwide version of GTA 6 has gone up to 223.088GB. They specified "worldwide" because, oddly, the version releasing in New Zealand and Australia was apparently showing as 0.008GB smaller – though they noted that "the package size can be different from the download size." In their most recent post, the Australian pre-load is shown as being 209.913GB, proving their point.

Regardless, though, fans are excited – many are now hoping that Online could be arriving sooner than previously anticipated if some of the infrastructure is seemingly already in place. "They're going to shadowdrop Online in December aren't they," one speculates. "Online is probably March I'd say," guesses another. "GTA6 online on day 1," another proclaims. There's, uh, not a lot of consistency in folks' theories.

Anyway, we'll just have to stay tuned to see what ends up being accurate – or not. Even though Rockstar hasn't officially announced GTA 6 Online, it does feel like the kind of thing that'd be just a matter of time.

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