Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming, Will cryptocurrencies and NFTs be a part?

GTA 6 has released its first trailer and a release date. There has been speculation about cryptocurrencies in the game for years. Why this is highly unlikely.

190 million copies sold, eight billion US dollars in revenue: Grand Theft Auto 5 was the second most successful game of all time. Now after a decade, the next installment is in the starting blocks. On December 5, 2023, the released the game's first trailer, just hours earlier after it was accidentally leaked. The release date will take place in 2025, and one big question has been in play for years: will GTA 6 then implement cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin? Or NFTs? With a sizeable chance of not. But for different reasons than expected.

Rumors of cryptocurrencies in the game first surfaced in 2021, spread by reliable insider Tom Henderson. You would be paid for some missions in Bitcoin or other crypto currencies. Later, there were also rumors of NFTs as items that could be bought or sold. None of these rumors were ever officially confirmed. The gaming platform Game Rant thinks it is more likely that cryptocurrencies will appear in GTA 6 in another form: as a spot in the storyline. The series is known for its satire of American society.

What speaks for integration: many of the biggest game companies are slowly venturing Web3. Ubisoft is experimenting, Square Enix is restructuring its entire business model, Electronic Arts is flirting with NFTs in its popular sports games. Take Two the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, along with its development studio Zynga, has already released a Web3 game. GTA Online also briefly included NFTs and cryptocurrencies, but were implemented by fans themselves. The creators, Rockstar Games, immediately banned them.

What speaks against crypto in Grand Theft Auto?

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs still have an extremely bad reputation in the video game industry. At best: an exploitative business model. Often just: a rip-off. And even if Rockstar Games were to make sense of crypto, the integration would likely make them a target of the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC. For example, the SEC has been hunting down any U.S. companies that integrate or work with cryptocurrencies for months. PayPal was the most recent target. The company launched its own stablecoin, PYUSD. Such a risk would be difficult to communicate to Rockstar Games shareholders. Rockstar Games is considered very conservative when it comes to legal issues.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is set in a fictional Miami Vice City with two main characters, a man and a woman who appear to be a couple. The player can switch between the two of them, just like in the previous game. The game will be released in several episodes about which little is known so far.