Ben-DutkaIt probably isn't true but consider this for a moment.
I was recently asking myself if critics should issue new Grand Theft Auto V reviews based on Grand Theft Auto Online . Should they amend the original scores after taking GTAO into account? Should GTAO receive an entirely separate score?
Then a thought struck me:
Rockstar warned everyone well ahead of time that the online portion of GTAV would have significant "growing pains." They knew it would happen; they were prepared for it, which is probably part of the reason they responded so quickly to the multiple issues. I often wondered why the online part came out two weeks after the single-player campaign; at first, I just assumed it was due to a lack of time. But really, what does two weeks get you? I think it's possible that Rockstar may have held back GTAO on purpose, knowing that the issues it faced could – and likely would – have a negative impact on the overall GTAV scores.
I mean, I seriously doubt they expected many critics to award GTAV less than a 9 and of course, they didn't. It was averaging about 97% during those two weeks before GTAO launched and that undoubtedly helped spur the game's record-breaking sales performance. Granted, it would've sold like mad, anyway, but super high scores always help, especially if they're historic high scores. And it's not out of the realm of possibility that the developers knew what might happen if GTAO launched alongside GTAV. Not only would it take a little longer for scores to hit the Internet, but the overall scores would likely have been a bit lower. Maybe a lot lower.
Look at some of the separate GTAO scores thus far. They're much different, aren't they? Obviously, as time goes on and Rockstar continues to fix all the major issues, the multiplayer segment will just get better and better. But right off the bat, it wasn't going to work quite right. It just wasn't. So, I believe there's a chance that the two-week grace period was intentional and coldly calculated…what say you?
Related Game(s): Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online