Rockstar Social Club, an exclusive online tie-in for titles from Rockstar Games, is officially sunsetting soon. Speculations suggest that Rockstar is shutting down the service in order to revamp online features and bring in something new, along with the much-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal.
The online feature went live in 2008 with the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV on consoles. Ever since, 14 games have witnessed the support of Rockstar Social Club, but it seems like those days are coming to an end. Instead, we’ll hopefully see a new online platform for upcoming games and content by Rockstar.
What Is Rockstar Social Club, and How Does It Work?
The online platform from Rockstar was envisioned for the future of games that have multiplayer features, along with single-player content that could be shared with friends and other members of the same community. So far, these games have supported the platform (in order of release):
- Grand Theft Auto IV
- The Lost and Damned
- The Ballad of Gay Tony
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
- Beaterator
- Red Dead Redemption
- Max Payne 3
- L.A. Noire
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Grand Theft Auto Online
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Red Dead Online
- Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
Rockstar Social Club assisted players with keeping track of achievements, stats, and other information they could make public on their profile. It was a tie-in feature that directly synchronized with whatever game players were experiencing at that moment, and users could access the website version of the same too.
However, on November 20th, the website received an overhaul, and we can now see some kind of rebranding in the works. This update seems to have removed any mention of Rockstar Social Club and is replaced with a subtle ‘Rockstar Games.’ There’s no official word around the update or how it affects the service or any information players have uploaded, but we’ll likely hear from Rockstar soon. Maybe even alongside the reveal of the next Grand Theft Auto next month.
While we receive more information from Rockstar about any new changes to social features, we can only hope that all information and stats for single-player (as well as online) remain unaffected.
There’s a Chance We May See a New Platform Altogether
According to a post on X, Rockstar has changed quite a few wordings and sentences to hint at upcoming switch-ups in Rockstar Social Club’s branding altogether.
Moreover, when you visit the website right now, you’ll see a change in the introduction. On the official website, Rockstar writes:
Join over 200 million members worldwide on the official Rockstar Games platform to enhance and extend your gaming experience.
There’s clearly no Social Club 2.0 here; instead, the new platform is simply called Rockstar Games. But could this change in the future? We’ll have to wait and see. In the past, Rockstar has played around with its logo, color and design themes, and even how it posts content every time a new game is about to be revealed.
Given how in early November we received a message from Rockstar about the next Grand Theft Auto, it’s likely that a change to Rockstar Social Club is pretty evident of upcoming changes to Rockstar’s marketing. Or, rather, updates in favor of the next game. Given the anticipation and impact of the upcoming game, a change in its social features won’t be the biggest surprise.
Previously, leakers have also suggested that GTA 6 will likely have a live-service model where the locations and overall map features change in its online state. This is comparable to how many online games that work on a similar model keep updating in the context of the content, in-game locations, and more. This can somehow tie into Rockstar’s new social platform, making it a hub for all players to invest their time in next.
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
