GTA Online to be an MMO.. eventually.

The GTA Online trailer released last week was nothing short of amazing. What we saw in the 3 minute trailer however is just the beginning. The plan is to carefully mould it into a fully fledged MMO.

In an interview with Spanish website 3Djuegos.com, director of Rockstar North Leslie Benzies reveals what the developers hope to achieve with GTA Online in the long run, to turn it into an MMO style game.

Quote translated by RealTom on the GTAForums

3DJ: GTA Online seems to go far beyond traditional multiplayer experiences. How do you rate the way you have given from GTA IV so far?

LB: I think GTA IV had a simple concept traditional multiplayer with races and “deathmatches”. We see an aura Online GTA MMO. It’s not, but it has that essence. We want people to live and exist in this world, not between just to get a career. It’s persistent, you have a character evolving, acquiring skills and who should care. It is a more MMO. We will continue working in this direction to get a real representation of life out there.

3DJ: Does that mean that GTA Online could be the beginning of something bigger, like an MMO?

LB: That’s where we try to reach. We have plans to GTA Online to become a persistent world with millions of people to coexist. We will be adding new things. Yes, that’s where we expect to arrive.

3DJ: One thing that strikes us is that you have decided to call it GTA V GTA Online and Online. What is the reason? Do you plan to have a continuity product in the future?

LB: We see GTA Online as something born of his father and his mother, which are GTAV. Become independent and live their own lives, away from their parents to form an entity in itself. We can not keep GTA Online joined with his father and his mother for too long, so the plans we have is to continue its path to become a great MMO style game.

Everything we’ve seen from GTA Online so far suggests it’s going to be big. In fact, in the same interview, Leslie also confirmed that a whopping 700 missions will be available to play in GTA Online. Yes, 700 missions! Add to that the plethora of user generated missions players will undoubtedly be creating in their thousands and it’s safe to say it’s going to be monstrous.

If it over time manages to become an MMO with thousands of players populating the city then we are in for a great future with the GTA franchise. A great future indeed.