former rockstar dev says the team was terrified before gta online launched

Saw this interview clip making the rounds and it's one of those things that makes you realize how close GTA Online came to being a disaster. A former Rockstar designer apparently said the team was genuinely scared before the mode went live, with someone on the inside saying

"we are in so much trouble"

right around launch.

Anyone who was there for October 2013 remembers what actually happened. Servers buckling, characters getting wiped, people stuck in loading screens for hours. It took weeks before things stabilized, and even then the economy was a mess. So hearing that the devs knew it was going to be rough isn't exactly shocking, but it's different coming from someone who was in the room.

What gets me is how that fear probably shaped everything after. GTA Online became this massive money printer, but the early days were held together with duct tape. Rockstar had never done a live service like that before, and it showed. Now we're sitting here waiting for GTA 6's online component, which is supposed to be even bigger. If they were scared about GTA Online in 2013, imagine the pressure now with a decade of expectations and a player base that's already spent billions in the current version.

I don't know if this interview has more details about what specifically they were worried about, but the quote alone is enough to start a conversation. Were they scared about the tech, the monetization, or just the sheer scale? GTA Online launched with almost nothing to do compared to today, and it still broke. GTA 6 online is going to have to hit the ground running or people will riot.

Do you think Rockstar has the same kind of internal panic about GTA 6's online mode right now?

---

Source: Insider Gaming · Curated content.