Can GTA 5 Expanded and Enhanced Edition be a major success for Rockstar Games?

The GTA fanbase is in a state of stasis right now, as Rockstar Games have been fairly quiet on news of a sequel, and there doesn't seem to be anything in the pipeline.

Around this time last year, the game publishing giants had announced their plans for GTA Online and had a pretty big announcement lined up.

While there is a chance that Rockstar are sitting on a massive announcement planned for the summer, the GTA fandom has been starved of any real development.

The focal point for the fanbase seems to be towards the end of 2021, which will see the release of Grand Theft Auto 5's Expanded and Enhanced Edition for next-gen consoles.

While many in the community feel that a remaster of a two-generation old title seems kind of complacent of Rockstar, some are still optimistic. Regardless of which side of the fence players find themselves on, there is still a lot of confusion regarding what GTA 5 "Expanded and Enhanced Edition" exactly means.

Does GTA 5 Expanded and Enhanced have a shot at succeeding?

With the release of GTA 5 on next-gen consoles, the game will become one of the few titles to have made two generational leaps.

Even though GTA 5 has earned a decade's worth of goodwill with fans, how many of them would purchase the game again on a new console? For one, next-gen consoles, specifically the PS5, have been notoriously hard to obtain, so the question that comes up is: who is the game for?

The new GTA fan

A look at GTA 5's yearly sales and Take-Two Interactive's reports will show that the demand for GTA 5 is still palpable. Players are still actively purchasing the game for both console and PC and are even watching streams (which is always a fair indicator of popularity).

Whether it stems from GTA RP or Online is still debatable, but the fact remains that the game is still out in the open and fairly popular. This means that a gamer who just bought a new next-gen console and hasn't tried GTA 5 for a variety of reasons - not owning a decent PC or last-gen console - might want to give it a go.

There are plenty of new GTA fans popping up each year as a result of how dominant the franchise's presence is in pop culture and in the gaming community as a whole.

The seasoned GTA player with a new console

The problem with any new console is the lack of strong launch titles, something that the PS5 and Xbox Series X have arguably alleviated to a certain degree. Yet, there are plenty of players who are still on the fence about whether they should purchase a new console.

While first-time console owners might have a much easier time deciding, they will still need a good game to justify the purchase. This is exactly what GTA 5 positions itself as - the pinnacle of AAA games and the ultimate value-for-money title.

GTA is in the best spot ever, appealing to both dedicated players and casual gamers who purchase three games a year. This makes the Expanded and Enhanced edition an appealing buy for fans of the series with new consoles or a new console owner looking to test out the hardware with a popular title.

In any case, Rockstar have a massively popular franchise at hand and a built-in fanbase that will buy their latest offering. So, GTA 5 has every chance of being one of the most successful games on the PS5 right from the start.