Grand Theft Auto V fans have long speculated the existence of a single-player DLC that never came to fruition, but now, Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has come forward to confirm these speculations, explaining the reasons behind its unfortunate cancellation.
Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast, Houser described what happened to the ill-fated DLC, confirming the rumours that it would have focused on Trevor, one of the game’s three protagonists, as he becomes a secret agent “for the Feds”, better known as the FIB (The Federal Investigation Bureau).
“It never quite came together, and it was never finished,” Houser recalled, adding that it was “about half-done when it was abandoned.” As to why the project was scrapped after half the work was done, Houser explained that the move was made to make room for 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2.
“I think if [the DLC] had come out, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to make Red Dead 2. So, there are always compromises,” he explained, although he went on to describe his love for the concept of single-player DLCs like the two Grand Theft Auto 4 expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, or the original Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare DLC.
“I like making the stories,” he said, “I love the model of GTA 4 where you had the extra stories coming afterwards. Or Red Dead 1 when you had the zombie pack coming afterwards. I like just doing these extra things,” adding that he “would’ve personally liked to have done more of that” at Rockstar and that in the future, he hopes the team would “try and come up with worlds where we can add more stories.”
While the cancellation of GTA 5’s story DLC is a major disappointment for fans, especially considering the route Rockstar took instead, focusing on pouring resources into their cash cow, GTA Online, with years of mediocre online-only content, one can hope that Houser’s comments might mean that next year’s much-anticipated sequel, Grand Theft Auto VI, would go back to its focus on providing engaging post-launch story expansions just like the series did back in its hayday.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Yong Le
