Rockstar has removed the Social Club branding from its website, presumably in anticipation of GTA 6. As per the news account @videotechuk_ on Twitter, the publisher has replaced the nomenclature with simply ‘Rockstar Games’ and scrapped any references to ‘Social Club members.’ The online gaming service is also missing the old logo now, though players can still engage in multiplayer elements and accrue member-exclusive rewards from games like Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. For now, it’s unclear whether Rockstar would launch a new platform or simply update the existing application to usher in the new era, but traces of the branding still remain in-game.
“Most of the Social Club mentions are gone, completely. An end of an era,” the tweet reads, showing differences between the old and new info page, which now refers to subscribers as ‘Rockstar Games members.’ People online have also noticed that the signature Rockstar logo, which used to be black and yellow is now black-and-white. Sam Houser, co-founder of the studio previously confirmed that the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 will be out in early December, which also marks the 25th anniversary celebration for Rockstar. While it’s generally expected that the trailer might drop during Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards 2023 on the 8th, the publisher has, in the past, avoided making announcements at third-party shows, instead releasing it on their official channels.
It may appear Rockstar Games are gearing up to sunset the Social Club and launch a new platform. Today the new changes to the Rockstar Games websites brought a new change to the naming scheme of the Social Club to the ‘Rockstar Games Platform”. pic.twitter.com/XYVhd1xXtc
— Ben (@videotechuk_) November 20, 2023
Rockstar has stayed utterly silent on any GTA 6 updates since revealing that it’s under development in 2022, presumably set in a fictionalised version of Miami and featuring two protagonists. An earnings report from parent company Take-Two, however, suggests that the game is eyeing a release in the fiscal year 2025, which in this case, is a window that opens in April 2024. The studio also suffered a massive data leak of in-development gameplay footage that showed the lead characters — an unnamed man and a woman — engaging in a daytime heist at a local diner. Marking the first female lead in the franchise, the tale is reportedly inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, the real-life American criminal couple who went around robbing banks and stores in the country, amidst the Great Depression.
It’s been 11 years since Grand Theft Auto V dropped on consoles, with Rockstar keeping it alive through minor performance upgrades for two generations and via GTA Online, the cash cow that offers near-endless multiplayer content for players. As of October, the game has sold 190 million copies worldwide, within which, a dataminer has now uncovered a string that points towards a sequel to Bully. The game has been long-rumoured to be in development, thanks to a leaked mocap casting call that mainly looked for teenagers — Rockstar never responded to the claims.
Grand Theft Auto 6 will probably release on the current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series S/X first, before heading to PC — as seen with previous Rockstar entries.