Yesterday, Rockstar Games announced that the ever-popular Grand Theft Auto V will finally include Heists, a feature that was promised at launch at the end of 2013. Now, one and a half years later, the hype has died down considerably. This begs the question: Will Heists be worth the wait? Furthermore, can they live up to almost two years worth of hype?
To put this into perspective, GTA V Heists were originally shown in August, 2013. Delay after delay of Rockstar admitting that they bit off more than they could chew slowly whittled down players’ interest and spirits, to the point where many in the community are still convinced we’ll see another last-minute delay in the coming weeks.
Heists sound like a lot of fun – what’s not to love about 4 player co-op robberies? – and the screenshots Rockstar released tease at a plethora of possibilities within. Furthermore, if Achievement Hunter has shown us anything it’s that the concept of Heists is one worth exploring and playing in GTA V. If watching their ‘heists’ shows anything, it’s that if they’re that fun when it’s not even an official game type, then Rockstar’s version will be infinitely more enjoyable.
Heists will include a variety of exciting ocations and scenarios
The only problem is that Heists have been in a perpetual state of existence for so long now, they’re starting to suffer from the Half Life 3 effect. You know what I’m talking about – an incredibly anticipated title is in limbo for a long period of time (in this case, not nearly as long as Half Life 3 itself), and the community does one of two things. They either hype it up beyond belief, so the final product can never live up to its own legend; or they stop caring because it took far too long. GTA V‘s Heists are in danger of both.
We’ll have to wait and see if what Rockstar have to deliver can live up to its own name, but members of the GTA V community are already moving on from the news, and others are approaching it with caution. I sincerely hope, for Rockstar’s sake, that they deliver on everything they promised, and that it was worth the wait.
As a bonus, a Reddit user drew up a timeline of announcements regarding GTA V‘s Heists, which you can read below. It was discussed a total of 13 times since the announcement.
For a quick summary: GTA V released in September, 2013, and they didn’t talk about Heists until November. Between then and February, 2014, they said “stay tuned for more details” 5 times, before announcing a Spring release date in April. In June, they confirmed Heists were taking longer than planned. In November, they said that it would be in the first update for GTA V after the game’s launch on the PS4 and Xbox One. In December they said early 2015. In January they said it would launch just before the PC version.
Now, in February, they’ve announced another release date. Let’s hope this one sticks.
Aug 15th, 2013 – Rockstar releases the ‘Grand Theft Auto Online: Official Gameplay Video, touting “…You can run around on your own making friends and enemies. Or band together and form a crew. Then, tackle a heist, rob a liquor store, or compete in classic online modes.”
Nov 1st, 2013 – “Stay tuned as we hope to have more information with more details and specific timings on these content updates as well as on GTA Online Heists and the new GTA Online Capture the Flag mode to share with you next week.”
Dec 9th, 2013 – “GTA Online Heists. We know many of you in the GTA Online community are super excited for the debut of co-operative Heists. Heists are currently in development and we are working very hard to get them as polished and as fun as they can be. Stay tuned for much more detail in the New Year.”
Feb 11th 2014 – “We will also have more information soon for other forthcoming GTA Online content updates including the Dangerous Business Pack, Online Heists, an expansion to the Creator tool and lots more.”
Feb 27th 2014 – “And stay tuned for details about our upcoming Business Update Event Weekend as well as more info to be revealed on future updates including Online Heists, the Capture Creator update, new Assassination and Flight School missions for Story Mode and much more…”
April 2nd 2014 – “Heists: Coming this spring to Grand Theft Auto Online, team up with your most trusted Crew members or with random other mercenaries in Grand Theft Auto Online to pull off cooperative Heist Missions for glory and profit.”
June 18th 2014 – “We know many fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the Online Heists that we had planned to release for you this spring, and they are taking more time to create than originally anticipated.”
Nov 12th 2014 – “And get ready for continuing free content Updates for Grand Theft Auto Online, including the highly-anticipated launch of Online Heists (which, to be absolutely clear, will be available for all four consoles to enjoy).”
Nov 13th 2014 – “We know you’re all excited for more Updates to come and we’ve got some really exciting stuff in the works to continue adding to, expanding and evolving the world of Grand Theft Auto Online – including the highly anticipated launch of Online Heists which will be available for all four consoles as the first GTA Online Update to happen after the game launches on PS4 and Xbox One.”
Dec 16th 2014 – “Heists will be coming as a free update to Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC in early 2015.”
Dec 17th 2014 – “Heists were a much bigger challenge to create than we had originally anticipated. Early versions were simply not good enough and had to be scrapped more than once as we honed in on how we thought they should work. We’re happy to say that the pack we are now finalizing is something we are excited by and eager to release as soon as it is ready.”
Jan 13th 2015 – “Online Heists for consoles will be launching in the coming weeks ahead of the PC launch.”
Today, Feb 24th 2015 – “We are excited to announce that the launch of Heists for GTA Online is scheduled for March 10th.”