GTA Online is the multiplayer world that came with Grand Theft Auto V in 2013, and it is still running. This is our full guide to it: the confirmed facts, every major update and heist, every business, the people who hand out the work, the money, and numbers we calculated ourselves from Rockstar's release dates. Updated November 6, 2026.
GTA Online at a glance
13 years of GTA Online, by our count
GTA Online has been running for 4,784 days.
We went through every major update since 2013 and did the maths ourselves. These figures are worked out from Rockstar's own release dates in the table further down. You will not find them listed together anywhere else.
When Rockstar ships the big ones
Plot the 25 major updates by month and the pattern jumps out. Rockstar ships one in early summer and one in December. Every December from 2015 to 2025 had one, and nine of those eleven years also had a summer update. If you are waiting for the next one, those are the windows to watch.
Counted from the 25 updates in the table below. November has never had one, so GTA 6's November 19 date sits outside Rockstar's usual calendar.
What GTA Online is
GTA Online is the multiplayer side of Grand Theft Auto V. You create your own character, arrive in Los Santos and Blaine County, and work up from street jobs to running businesses, heists and properties, with other players or on your own. Everything runs on GTA$, the in-game money, which you can earn or buy with real money through Shark Cards.
It went live on October 1, 2013, two weeks after GTA V. The first weeks were rough, with server problems and lost characters, and Rockstar gave every player GTA$500,000 as an apology. Thirteen years later it is still getting a major update each summer and winter, plus new bonuses every Thursday.
Where you can play it
| Platform | Since | Status |
|---|---|---|
| PS3, Xbox 360 | Oct 1, 2013 | Closed December 16, 2021 |
| PS4, Xbox One | Nov 18, 2014 | Online, still getting major updates |
| PC (now called Legacy) | Apr 14, 2015 | Online |
| PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Mar 15, 2022 | Online: the Expanded and Enhanced version |
| PC Enhanced | Mar 4, 2025 | Online: the PS5 and Xbox Series features on PC |
The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S version added faster loading, ray tracing options, Hao's Special Works vehicle upgrades and the Career Builder, which gives new players GTA$4,000,000 to start one of four businesses. GTA Online was free to claim on PS5 for its first three months, until June 14, 2022, and it can still be bought there without story mode.
Every major update since 2015
These are the big business and heist updates. We left out smaller vehicle and mode packs such as Lowriders, Cunning Stunts and the 2020 Summer Special, and the weekly events in between.
| Date | Update | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2015 | Heists | The first co-op heists, planned with Lester from your apartment |
| Dec 15, 2015 | Executives and Other Criminals | Penthouse apartments and the first VIP work |
| Jun 7, 2016 | Further Adventures in Finance and Felony | Offices, Special Cargo warehouses and the CEO role |
| Oct 4, 2016 | Bikers | Motorcycle club clubhouses and five MC businesses |
| Dec 13, 2016 | Import/Export | Vehicle warehouses and stealing cars to order |
| Jun 13, 2017 | Gunrunning | Bunkers, weapon research and the Mobile Operations Center |
| Aug 29, 2017 | Smuggler's Run | Hangars and air cargo |
| Dec 12, 2017 | The Doomsday Heist | Underground Facilities and a three-act heist |
| Jul 24, 2018 | After Hours | Nightclubs, real DJs and the Terrorbyte |
| Dec 11, 2018 | Arena War | The Arena Workshop and armoured vehicle game modes |
| Jul 23, 2019 | The Diamond Casino & Resort | The casino, its games and penthouses |
| Dec 12, 2019 | The Diamond Casino Heist | Arcades and the casino heist with three approaches |
| Dec 15, 2020 | The Cayo Perico Heist | A new island, the Kosatka submarine and the first solo heist |
| Jul 20, 2021 | Los Santos Tuners | The LS Car Meet, Auto Shops and tuner cars |
| Dec 15, 2021 | The Contract | Franklin's agency, and Dr. Dre with new music |
| Jul 26, 2022 | The Criminal Enterprises | Reworked businesses and the IAA's Agent ULP missions |
| Dec 13, 2022 | Los Santos Drug Wars | The Acid Lab and a two-part story |
| Jun 13, 2023 | San Andreas Mercenaries | Operations from the Avenger with Charlie |
| Dec 12, 2023 | The Chop Shop | Salvage yards and vehicle robberies |
| Jun 25, 2024 | Bottom Dollar Bounties | The bail office and bounty hunting |
| Dec 10, 2024 | Agents of Sabotage | A factory front and spy missions |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Oscar Guzman Flies Again | McKenzie Field Hangar and Oscar's arms trafficking |
| Jun 17, 2025 | Money Fronts | Laundering through the Hands On Car Wash, Higgins Helitours and Smoke on the Water |
| Dec 10, 2025 | A Safehouse in the Hills | Mansions, an AI assistant, a Mission Creator, and Michael De Santa back, voiced by Ned Luke |
| Jul 14, 2026 | The Kortz Center Heist | An art heist from your mansion, seven new vehicles and a bigger Mission Creator |
Every heist
| Heist | Year | Players | Planned from |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Fleeca Job | 2015 | 2 | Your apartment, with Lester |
| The Prison Break | 2015 | 4 | Apartment |
| The Humane Labs Raid | 2015 | 4 | Apartment |
| Series A Funding | 2015 | 4 | Apartment |
| The Pacific Standard Job | 2015 | 4 | Apartment |
| The Data Breaches | 2017 | 2 to 4 | Facility, with Lester and Agent 14 |
| The Bogdan Problem | 2017 | 2 to 4 | Facility |
| The Doomsday Scenario | 2017 | 2 to 4 | Facility |
| The Diamond Casino Heist | 2019 | 2 to 4 | Arcade, with Lester and Georgina Cheng |
| The Cayo Perico Heist | 2020 | 1 to 4 | Kosatka submarine, with Miguel Madrazo and Pavel |
| The Kortz Center Heist | 2026 | 1 to 4 | Mansion Art Studio, with Mr. Faber and Raf De Angelis |
The Casino Heist lets you pick one of three approaches: Silent and Sneaky, The Big Con or Aggressive. Cayo Perico was the first heist you could finish alone, and its target on the island is the drug lord El Rubio.
Businesses you can own
| Property | Added in | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| CEO Office and Special Cargo warehouses | 2016 | Buy and sell crates as a CEO |
| MC Clubhouse and five MC businesses | 2016 | Forgery, counterfeit cash, weed, meth and cocaine |
| Vehicle Warehouse | 2016 | Steal high-end cars to order |
| Bunker | 2017 | Make weapons and research upgrades |
| Hangar | 2017 | Air cargo smuggling |
| Facility | 2017 | Base for the Doomsday Heist |
| Nightclub | 2018 | Earns from your other businesses while you play |
| Arcade | 2019 | Base for the Casino Heist |
| Kosatka | 2020 | A submarine base for Cayo Perico |
| Auto Shop | 2021 | Robbery contracts and car customer jobs |
| Agency | 2021 | Security contracts with Franklin |
| Acid Lab | 2022 | A mobile lab in a truck |
| Salvage Yard | 2023 | Vehicle robberies for parts |
| Bail Office | 2024 | Bounty hunting |
| McKenzie Field Hangar | 2025 | Arms trafficking with Oscar Guzman |
| Money Fronts | 2025 | Launder money through a car wash, a helicopter tour firm and a weed shop |
| Mansion | 2025 | A luxury home base, upgraded in 2026 with an Art Studio for the Kortz Center Heist |
Who's who
The characters who hand out the work, by the update that made them important.
- Lester Crest: the original heist planner, and back for Doomsday and the Casino.
- Lamar Davis: Franklin's friend from GTA V, with his own contact missions.
- Gerald, Simeon, Martin Madrazo and Ron: the early contact-mission givers.
- Agent 14: runs Gunrunning and the Doomsday Heist.
- Tony Prince: the nightclub mogul from After Hours, first seen in GTA IV's The Ballad of Gay Tony.
- Georgina Cheng: runs the Casino Heist with Lester.
- Miguel Madrazo and Pavel: Cayo Perico's client and your submarine captain.
- Franklin Clinton and Imani: run the Agency in The Contract.
- Dr. Dre: the client in The Contract, playing himself.
- Charlie and Agent ULP: San Andreas Mercenaries and the IAA missions.
- Vincent Effenburger: bail enforcement in Bottom Dollar Bounties.
- Oscar Guzman: Trevor's old pilot friend, back in 2025.
- Mr. Faber: Money Fronts and the Kortz Center Heist.
- Michael De Santa: back in A Safehouse in the Hills, voiced again by Ned Luke.
Money: GTA$, Shark Cards and GTA+
GTA$ is everything in GTA Online: properties, cars, weapons and upgrades. You earn it from jobs, businesses and heists, and Rockstar boosts payouts on different activities each week.
Shark Cards sell GTA$ for real money, in tiers named after sharks: Red, Tiger, Bull, Great White, Whale and Megalodon, the biggest at GTA$8,000,000. Prices differ by platform and region.
GTA+ is a monthly membership, launched March 29, 2022, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Members get GTA$500,000 every month, free vehicles, properties and clothing, extra bonuses on rotating activities, and a library of classic Rockstar games added from December 2023. Take-Two said GTA+ membership was up 20% year on year in late 2025.
Modes and the Creator
- Freemode: the open world in a public lobby, with businesses, random events and other players.
- Jobs: races, deathmatches, Survivals, Adversary Modes and contact missions.
- The Creator: players have been able to build their own races and deathmatches since GTA Online's early months. A Safehouse in the Hills added a full Mission Creator in December 2025, and the Kortz Center Heist update in July 2026 added warp points, working CCTV cameras, 32 objective objects and new actors such as Santa, the Yeti and aliens.
- Community Series: Rockstar picks player-made jobs and adds them to the game with bonus payouts.
- Roleplay: Rockstar bought Cfx.re, the team behind the FiveM roleplay servers, in August 2023, making community roleplay part of Rockstar itself.
Records and oddities
- Free for a week, and a store crash: the Epic Games Store gave GTA V away in May 2020, and the rush knocked the store offline.
- The apology money: after the rocky 2013 launch, every player got GTA$500,000.
- Rank 8,000: the highest rank in the game.
- New Dr. Dre music: The Contract in 2021 came with previously unreleased Dr. Dre tracks.
- A submarine as a house: the Kosatka, from Cayo Perico, is a property you own and plan heists from.
- Two versions at once: the PS3 and Xbox 360 version kept running for more than seven years alongside the newer one.
- Michael's return: GTA V's lead came back in December 2025, and the update confirmed which of GTA V's endings counts.
Starting GTA Online in 2026
Our advice for a new or returning player, based on how the game works now. This is our opinion, not Rockstar's.
- On PS5, Xbox Series X|S or PC Enhanced, use the Career Builder. The free GTA$4,000,000 start skips the slowest early grind.
- Check the Thursday update. Doubled or tripled payouts change what is worth doing each week.
- Cayo Perico is still the best solo heist to learn, because you can run it alone from the Kosatka.
- Buy a Nightclub once you own other businesses, since it earns from them while you play.
- GTA+ only makes sense if you play most weeks, because its value is the monthly GTA$ and rotating bonuses.
The sales numbers
- 230 million+ copies of GTA V sold in, and GTA Online comes with every one of them (Take-Two, August 7, 2026).
- Nearly 475 million Grand Theft Auto games sold in across the series (same call).
- About 15 million more copies of GTA V a year, still, going by Take-Two's August figures.
Rockstar does not publish GTA Online player counts or Shark Card revenue on their own. Take-Two reports them inside "recurrent consumer spending".
GTA Online and GTA 6
GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026, as a single-player game. Rockstar has not announced an online mode for it, and has not given a date or a name for one.
The current GTA Online is not closing. Take-Two told shareholders on September 17, 2026: "We will continue to support GTA Online after GTA VI release and beyond." On launch day it stays Rockstar's only GTA multiplayer game, and the only way PC players can play GTA with others, since GTA 6 is PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only at launch.
What 13 years of GTA Online suggests
This part is our reading of the history, not anything Rockstar has said.
- Day one was never the big moment. The 2013 launch was rough, and the update that made GTA Online, Heists, came 525 days later. Waiting on GTA 6's online mode fits a studio that knows the long game matters more than the first week.
- A December 2026 update would fit the pattern. Rockstar has shipped a major update every December since 2015. It has not announced one for this year.
- Two online games at once has happened before. The PS3 and Xbox 360 version ran alongside the newer one for more than seven years.
Treat any GTA 6 online date you see as a rumour until Rockstar posts it.
This week in GTA Online
November 5 to 11, 2026: a heist event week, with double first-time payouts on heist finales, a guaranteed top target on your first run of The Cayo Perico Heist and The Kortz Center Heist, and a free mansion painting for logging in. It is one of the last weekly updates before GTA 6.
Rockstar's other online world
Red Dead Redemption 2 has its own online mode, built around five frontier roles instead of businesses and heists. It went quiet in 2022 but is still running, with monthly events and a surprise set of new missions in 2025. Read our full Red Dead Online guide for its timeline, roles, numbers and a side-by-side comparison with GTA Online.
Questions people ask
Is GTA Online shutting down when GTA 6 comes out?
No. Take-Two said on September 17, 2026 that it will keep supporting GTA Online after GTA 6's release and beyond.
Does GTA 6 have GTA Online?
Not at launch. GTA 6 is a single-player game on November 19, 2026. Rockstar has not announced its online mode yet.
Is GTA Online free?
No. It comes with GTA V, and on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S it can also be bought on its own. It was free to claim on PS5 for three months in 2022.
Can I still play GTA Online on PS4 and Xbox One?
Yes. Those versions still get the major updates. Only the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions closed, on December 16, 2021.
What was the last big GTA Online update?
The Kortz Center Heist, on July 14, 2026: an art gallery heist planned from your mansion, for one to four players.
What is the highest rank in GTA Online?
Rank 8,000.
How many players can be in a GTA Online lobby?
Up to 30 on current platforms. The PS3 and Xbox 360 version allowed 16.
Will my GTA Online character move to GTA 6?
Rockstar has not said anything about transfers. Nothing is confirmed.
Sources
- Take-Two Interactive, Q1 fiscal 2027 earnings call, August 7, 2026 (GTA V and series sales)
- Take-Two Interactive, shareholder meeting, September 17, 2026 (GTA Online support after GTA 6)
- Take-Two Interactive, Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings call (GTA+ growth)
- Rockstar Newswire posts for each update, dated in the table above
- Rockstar Newswire weekly update, November 5, 2026
Every count in "13 years of GTA Online, by our count" and the month chart is SixStarsWanted's own calculation from those dates.