Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders are finally about to go live, the price has been confirmed, and Rockstar has also quietly answered one of the biggest questions surrounding the game. Sort of. What the hell is going to happen to Online?

Over on Rockstar’s official pre-order page, GTA VI is currently described as “a single player experience,” coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19. That wording is interesting because, as of right now, there is no mention of GTA Online launching alongside it.

That does not mean GTA VI will never have an online mode. Calm down, put the pitchfork down, and step away from the Oppressor Mk II. But it does strongly suggest that Rockstar is keeping the initial launch focused on Jason and Lucia’s story, rather than trying to launch the single-player game and the next era of GTA Online at the exact same time.

The original GTA Online did not launch on the same day as Grand Theft Auto V. GTA V arrived on September 17, 2013, while GTA Online followed a couple of weeks later on October 1. That launch was also, to use the technical term, a complete bloody mess for a while, as millions of players tried to cram themselves into Rockstar’s servers. Chaos reigned supreme, which turned out to be a surprisingly good representation of what GTA Online is like in general.

With GTA VI, the pressure will be even more absurd. This is not just another big game launch. It is probably going to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, and Rockstar now has to deal with a far larger, far more online-focused audience than it did back in 2013.

So, yes, launching the single-player campaign first and then rolling out the new online component afterwards would be the safest, cleanest option.

That said, there has been one very interesting clue that GTA VI’s online component is absolutely part of the plan, even if Rockstar is not ready to talk about it properly yet.

Earlier this year, reporting from the ongoing dispute between Rockstar and a group of fired employees revealed that the company had been concerned about internal discussion of a “32-player online mode” in a private Discord server. The employees and the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain have claimed the dismissals were linked to union activity, while Rockstar and Take-Two have maintained the firings were due to gross misconduct involving confidential information.

Either way, the key detail for GTA fans is that court reporting appeared to reference a 32-player online mode connected to GTA VI. Rockstar has not officially announced that mode, and 32 players would not exactly be shocking given GTA Online already supports similar player counts, but it does suggest that multiplayer is very much part of the plan. Shocking news.

Which makes Rockstar’s current “single player experience” wording even more interesting. It probably does not mean GTA VI is single-player only forever. Instead, it may simply mean Rockstar is choosing not to sell the game around its online component yet.

Which raises the big question: what exactly happens to GTA Online when GTA VI arrives? There are a few possibilities.

The first, and probably the most likely, is that Rockstar launches GTA VI as a single-player game in November, then follows it up with a brand-new online mode later. Maybe it arrives a few weeks after launch, maybe early in 2027, or maybe whenever Rockstar is confident the servers will not explode into a fine digital mist.

Given the reported reference to a 32-player online mode, it certainly sounds like Rockstar has something multiplayer-shaped in the oven. The question is not really whether GTA VI will have online. The question is when Rockstar wants to talk about it, when it wants to launch it, and whether it will be treated as a clean sequel to GTA Online or as an evolution of the existing platform.

The second possibility is that the current GTA Online simply continues alongside GTA VI for a while. GTA Online still has an enormous player base, years of content, GTA+ support, and players who have invested a frankly alarming amount of time and money into their criminal empires. Rockstar may not want to just slam the door on that overnight. No kidding, it apparently brings in around half a billion dollars a year.

There is at least one other reason to believe the existing GTA Online will not simply be taken out back and shot the moment GTA VI arrives. Earlier this year, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about GTA Online’s future and said he had “every reason to believe” Rockstar would continue supporting it, pointing to its still-active community and the way players continue to show up when new content is added.

That is not the same thing as Rockstar laying out a proper roadmap. It does not tell us whether GTA VI’s online mode launches weeks later, months later, or under a new name. It does not tell us whether players will be able to transfer their criminal empires, their cash, their cars, or their terrible fashion choices. But it does suggest the current GTA Online may continue to exist in its current form alongside GTA VI, at least for a while.

The third possibility is some kind of upgrade, migration, or soft relaunch. Perhaps GTA Online evolves into a broader platform where GTA V’s Los Santos and GTA VI’s Leonida eventually coexist in some form. That sounds incredibly ambitious, and probably a technical nightmare, but this is also Rockstar. If any studio has the money and manpower to attempt something ludicrous, it is the one currently charging $80 for the most anticipated game on the planet.

The company knows GTA VI’s single-player campaign is enough to sell millions upon millions of copies by itself. It does not need to reveal the full online plan yet. In fact, holding back GTA Online details might actually be the smarter move. Let the story campaign have its moment, let players fall in love with Vice City again, then bring out the online juggernaut later when the news cycle needs another kick in the teeth.

Of course, this also means players hoping to jump straight into the next generation of GTA Online on day one might need to temper expectations. Based on Rockstar’s current wording, GTA VI is being sold first and foremost as Jason and Lucia’s story.

After more than a decade of GTA Online swallowing Rockstar’s attention like a shark with a credit card machine, there is something reassuring about GTA VI being presented as a proper single-player Grand Theft Auto first. The online empire will almost certainly come later in some form, because Take-Two likes money and GTA Online prints the stuff. Half a billion, to be more precise.

Personally? I think Online is actually going to continue in its current form for quite a while. Whether that’s on its own or alongside a new version, I’m not sure. But I don’t think Rockstar and Take-Two want to risk shutting down something that continues to generate enough money to fund an entire bloody country.