Why was the GTA V Trevor DLC Canceled?
GTA V fans have long argued that Rockstar Games has not released any single-player DLC or expansions due to the continued success of GTA Online. This was seen as a result of the company’s focus on the online platform.
Former Rockstar Employee Confesses to Canceled GTA V Trevor DLC
Former Rockstar camera artist Joe Rubino, who worked on Max Payne 3 and GTA V, made some remarkable statements in an interview with YouTuber SanInPlay. “Most of the team immediately went off to make Red Dead Redemption 2 after the release of Grand Theft Auto V, and I took on this other project that was a standalone DLC for Grand Theft Auto that never came out. That was my job. I was one of the main editors and one of the camera artists, and I did a lot of the on-set stuff. We split our teams in two. I stayed on GTA Online and this DLC, which Steven Ogg (the actor who played Trevor) was a very important part of.”
Rubino explained the process of canceling the project and redistributing resources: “Then part of the team overlapped and went early on Red Dead Redemption 2 and then we did this, because we spent a lot of money when that game was shelved. I believe a lot of that stuff ended up in later versions of GTA Online, though. They didn’t waste it. It was really, really good. What happened was when GTA Online came out, it was making so much money and people loved it so much that it was hard to argue that a standalone DLC could beat it. I think I can look back now and say that you could probably do both. But it was a business decision they made.”
Rubino expressed his feelings about the project’s cancellation, saying, “I was a little upset about it. Actually, the biggest reason I was a little upset at the time was because I was like, ‘Guys, this is great. Let’s keep going, let’s finish this. We probably got halfway through and then we took a break because GTA Online was so… People were freaking out,” he said. Rubino’s comments reveal the internal dynamics of the studio and the impact of financial decisions on the creative process.
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