Just as we've recently discussed the possible future of GTA Online in light of the most recent DLC, Cunning Stunts, it seems that time for immediate speculation could be over.
Rockstar has kept up a steady stream of incoming content updates for GTA Online for quite some time now and has not shown any signs of stopping. So much so that each time a DLC is released, immediately the fans begin speculation on what the next update might bring.
Rockstar has tended not to reveal or announce DLC until very close to release in the case of major updates. For smaller updates, they've only announced the DLC upon release. This air of secrecy about the immediate future of GTA Online that the developers maintain is tantalizing for much of the GTA community, which is probably why they can't leave it alone.
It almost feels like a whole sub-community or culture has developed around GTA Online leaks. These leaks constitute real or fake reports of information about upcoming content being published before Rockstar officially reveals the update. These leaks, while generally condemned by Rockstar, are among the greatest generators of publicity the game has in its arsenal.
The history of GTA Online leaks has been a bumpy one. In the early days, before the release of the PC version, leaks were very rare indeed, and fake "evidence" was hyped up more often. When the game finally made its way from the couch to the desk, the leaks changed forever.
While consoles remain relatively closed systems that only people who are "in-the-know" can crack open, with accessing game-files being tough, things are different on PC. Very little technical knowledge is actually required to snoop around code and files that the devevloper didn't intend for player eyes.
Couple this with the industry trend of pre-loading content that is already complete in patches before actual release to make the launch smoother, and you've got the perfect recipe for your secret getting out. In the early days of the PC release, the community saw an increase in legit leaks, however this was soon to change.
With modding becoming more and more widespread, very convincing fake leaks became more and more frequent. After some time, in between modding and more every-day hoax techniques like faking emails, bogus leaks became commonplace. Every two days or so a new leak would pop up, and be debunked a day later.
Things got really bad at the end of last summer and beginning of last autumn, when the GTA Online community basically ganged up on leakers, even those whose records were clean in some kind of spontaneous disorganised hate movement, which reached its peak before the announcement of the Lowriders DLC.
When the Rockstar post went up on the Newswire, it became instantly clear who was coming up with real info and who was bullshitting. Two leakers, who have since proved themselves several times by outing info on Executives and Other Criminals, Lowriders Custom Classics and Further Adventures in Finance and Felony among others, had their names cleared.
TezFunz2 and Yan2295 have provided the GTA Online community with legitimate leaks for quite some time now. All the evidence is there, and at this point, if they say something is coming, chances are it's solid. This means that the most recent info provided by them will send much of the community into overdrive.
Exactly how much of the community, you ask? Well, there was that petition once...
Yep, that's right — it appears that Biker DLC is finally coming. Based on some code references, the next major DLC coming after the release of the Stunt Race Creator on the 2nd of August will likely be a Biker update. Such a DLC has been among the most requested updates pretty much ever since free DLC packs for Online became commonplace.
Based on the info provided by TezFunz2 and Yan2295, the update will be adding a new mechanic similar to being a VIP" title=""> or CEO. This means that membership in a biker gang will be a similar position that will have some entry pre-requisites and will differ from regular play. This is suggested by various new mission types being prefaced by "biker", which is in turn prefaced by "gb". The gb code has been used to denote VIP and CEO" title=""> missions in the past.
The mission types, based on the code, will be Joust, Initiation, Rescue Contact and Bad Deal. Chances are Initiation missions will be one-time jobs played upon first becoming the member of a biker gang. Rescue Contact and Bad Deal seem straightforward enough, however depending on how Rockstar is interpreting Jousting on bikes, that could be the most interesting of the four.
Another mission type with the "gb" preface (a specific type of reference found in the files), but lacking the "biker" denotation is Vehicle Export, which might be a new CEO challenge or job. This application of the CEO mechanic to biker gangs is a pretty novel idea, and not one we would have expected.
Another interesting entry is "am_mp_personal_mod_garage". Now, "am_mp" signifies player properties in the game, including apartments and garages. With the release of Cunning Stunts adding 13 vehicles with another 3 having been added since, players have been clamoring for more garage space even more than before.
This entry seems to indicate that there will be a garage expansion coming with the biker DLC and that the new garage will be customizable much like the interiors of CEO offices are now. This new novelty is bound to please several fans, however it raises the question — if the 13+3 vehicles of Cunning Stunts weren't enough to get us an additional garage, how many bikes will this DLC add?
TezFunz2 has also verified some other leaks regarding the Stunt Race Creator that will soon launch. Some players have managed to access some of the new props and features of the creator. Obviously all the props used to make the official Stunt Races are in there, however some new info has also been revealed.
One of the new features will be the ability to remove default world props while in Creator mode. Basically, in Creator currently, you build upon the default GTA 5 world map. You can add props and delete your newly added props, but you couldn't edit the actual game world. This will change with the release of the Stunt Race Creator. Another interesting addition is the new speaker prop. When placed, this will allow you to trigger specific sound-effects or music in close proximity to it.
Unrelated to the Biker DLC is another interesting tidbit of info. We've known since the leak of the additional Cunning Stunts vehicles that there will be at least 2 mini-updates between the release of that DLC and the Stunt Race Creator. Now it seems that the second of those will contain a new Adversary Mode. In spite of the stigma Adversary Modes have gained over the months, the recent success of Power Play might put this one into new light as well.
The leak indicates that the new Mode will be called Entourage and the info has apparently come from IGN. The mode will be an asymmetrical setup with a team of assassins going after a VIP who is being escorted to checkpoints by a team of bodyguards. The goal of the assassins is to kill the VIP as quickly as possible, while the bodyguards must protect the VIP while he/she reaches all the checkpoints.
Which of these new GTA Online leaks excites you the most?
