Rockstar has apparently removed the Social Club branding from its website in anticipation of GTA 6. According to the news account @videotechuk_ on Twitter, the publisher has changed the name to simply ‘Rockstar Games’ and removed all references to ‘Social Club members.’
The previous logo has also been removed from the online gaming service, however, players can still participate in multiplayer components and earn member-exclusive rewards from games such as Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
For the time being, it’s unclear whether Rockstar will create a new platform or simply update the existing app to bring in the new era, but traces of the branding can still be found 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 was previously black and yellow, has been changed to black-and-white. Sam Houser, co-founder of the company, recently revealed that the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released in early December, coinciding with Rockstar’s 25th anniversary celebration.
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
While the teaser is widely expected to be shown during Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards 2023 on the 8th, the publisher has often avoided making announcements at third-party gatherings, instead distributing it through their official channels.
Rockstar has been completely silent on any GTA 6 updates since disclosing that it’s in the works in 2022, likely in a fictionalised version of Miami with two protagonists. However, a financial report from parent firm Take-Two indicates that the game is aiming for a release in fiscal year 2025, which in this case is a window that opens in April 2024.
A big data leak of in-development gameplay footage revealed the lead characters — an unnamed man and a woman — engaging in a daytime heist at a local diner. The story is apparently inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, the real-life American criminal duo who went around robbing banks and stores in the 1930s.
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Grand Theft Auto V has been on consoles for 11 years, with Rockstar keeping it alive through small performance enhancements for two generations and through GTA Online, the cash cow that supplies near-endless multiplayer content for users.
As of October, the game had sold 190 million copies worldwide, and a dataminer has discovered a string that points towards a sequel to Bully. The game has long been rumored to be in the works, according to a leaked mocap casting call that mostly sought teens but Rockstar never reacted to the claims.