A former Rockstar developer said the company scrapped Grand Theft Auto 5’s standalone story DLC because GTA Online proved to be a “cash cow” soon after launch.
Joe Robino, who was the lead cameraman and virtual cameraman working in Rockstar’s New York office from 2010 to 2016, spoke on YouTube channel SanInPlay about why the much-rumored story DLC for GTA 5 dropped after GTA 5’s release in September. 2013.
“A lot of the team immediately went to do Red Dead Redemption 2 and I took on this other project which was a standalone DLC for GTA that never came out and was kicked around,” Robino revealed.
“That was my business. I was one of the main editors, cameramen and on stage. We split our teams into two. I stayed with GTA Online and then this DLC that Steven Ogg [the actor who played Trevor Philips] was a very important part.
“And then some of the team overlapped and soon switched to RDR2 and then we just did this. [flipped motion], because when that game was shelved we spent so much money… a lot of it ended up happening I believe in the later iterations of GTA Online I guess. So it’s not like they wasted it.
“It was 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 standalone DLC would top it. I think now that I look back, you could probably do both. But that was their business decision. I was a bit upset about it.
“That was actually a lot of the reason I was a little sour at the time. Because I was like you guys WTF? This is amazing. Let’s continue. Let’s finish it.”
IGN has reached out to Rockstar for comment.
Fans have had bits and pieces of information about GTA 5’s legendary story DLC over the years. Steven Ogg talked about it and what it would entail. “Trevor was undercover, working with the feds,” Ogg said. “We did some of that stuff with ‘James Bond Trevor,’ where he’s still kind of cocky, but he’s doing his best. Then it just went away and they never did it, they never followed it up.”
GTA dataminers also discovered a reference to Trevor with a jetpack, suggesting that the story DLC has been reworked into GTA Online, according to Robino. In 2018, Rockstar finally revealed GTA Online Doomsday Heist mission alongside the Thruster, a jetpack that is exclusive to multiplayer to this day.
Rockstar is now focusing on getting GTA 6 ready for a Fall 2025 release. There are a number of questions fans have about Rockstar’s plans, including whether GTA 6 will get story DLC unlike GTA 5. And what will happen to the current version of GTA Online when GTA 6 inevitably introduces its own version?
Meanwhile, in the same interview, Robino discussed the well-documented hardship and secrecy Rockstar employees endured while working on GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2. “We’re about halfway there. [the GTA5 story DLC]and we took a break,” he said. “I was also doing GTA Online at the time and I was also doing RDR2. We all were. We’ve been working hard, man. For six or seven years I worked with our team almost 365 days a year.’
For years, Rockstar had a notorious reputation in the video game industry for its brutal crunch in the making of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead. However, following the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018 and shocking stories of the human cost of its development, media reports suggested that changes were made to the company’s culture to prevent the same from happening during GTA 6’s development.
Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be contacted at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.