Will We Be Able to Buy Properties in GTA 6, and Which Kinds?

As we approach the Extended Look and the release of GTA 6, I’m always keen to speculate on various aspects of the game. Today’s question that’s been playing in mind is whether we’ll be able to buy properties in GTA 6.

Naturally, we don’t have anything official from Rockstar just yet, so it’s a great time to look back at whatever evidence we can gather to make the most accurate speculation possible at this point. So, without further ado, let’s ponder.

Three out of Four Games Says Yes

Dating back all the way to GTA Vice City in 2002, we’ve had four mainline games, not counting DLC or the Stories games. In three of those, we could buy properties and collect periodic income from said properties, with the only exception being GTA 4.

In Vice City and San Andreas, properties were split into two types: Safehouses and income-generating assets. You could buy safehouses where you could save and change clothes, and you could buy properties that generate a weekly income. In these games, you had to go collect the income from the property by running through a green dollar icon (if my memory serves me).

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In GTA 4, both systems were scrapped. This seems to have been an intentional design choice by Rockstar, shifting the focus from building a criminal empire to the narrative around Niko’s story. It worked, since GTA 4 is still my and many others’ favorite game in the series, but I did miss the properties as the true endgame.

In GTA 5, properties returned, though safehouses did not. We could buy garages to store additional vehicles, but we couldn’t buy new homes. The only instance of this is when Franklin changes homes when Lester gives him the Vinewood Hills pad.

We could, however, buy income-generating properties again. Cinemas, the golf course, and bars were all for sale (and in Franklin’s case, Smoke on the Water). You wouldn’t have to physically go to the properties themselves to pick up your earnings, either, as they were directly paid into your character’s account.

The missions surrounding the properties were uninspired, though. I mostly remember the annoying calls you’d get when one of your businesses was under attack, usually at the most inopportune moments. I really do hope that system stays in the past.

Based on the Past, Will We Be Able to Buy Properties in GTA 6?

Judging from past trends, yes, we will almost certainly be able to buy properties in GTA 6. However, this comes with a caveat. We know that Jason and Lucia go on the run during the main story events of GTA 6, and during this time, we likely won’t be able to buy properties.

We may well, however, be able to buy smaller, illegal properties in this window. Later on, however, we may be able to buy more grandiose properties that are both criminal and legitimate.

We don’t know how long we’ll be on the run, but after the main events of the story conclude, we’ll likely be totally free to do whatever we want, just like in all the other GTA games so far.

What Properties Will We Be Able to Buy in GTA 6?

It’s impossible to say exactly what kinds of properties we’ll be able to buy, of course, but we can hazard a guess based on two sources: GTA Vice City and GTA Online.

In both Vice City and Online, we could buy various homes and apartments, with mansions even making their appearance with the Safehouse in the Hills update in Online. So it’s very likely that safehouses will make a return in some form, potentially only after the events of the game.

In Vice City on the business front, we could buy a nightclub, strip club, a movie studio, a car dealership, and more. So we might well see some of that return, which would be pretty amazing. You could also buy an ice-cream manufacturer that was used as a front, of course.

In GTA Online, we’ve seen bunkers (unlikely in GTA 6), auto shops, salvage yards, offices, various drug manufacturing locations, and even the agency. I’m less confident that we’ll see too many of these types of properties in the base GTA 6 game. Rockstar might have something planned in this line, but choose to keep it for online play.

Which brings me to an unpleasant but very real possibility: we might not be able to purchase properties of any kind at all in GTA 6.

Why Properties For Sale Might Not Feature at All in GTA 6

With GTA Online’s enormous success, Rockstar and Take-Two may well choose to move property-buying and managing entirely to the next iteration of GTA Online, and again focus on a story-driven experience like in GTA 4. I find this idea both interesting and terrifying.

It’s interesting because we might get a far stronger story if the teams had more time to focus on that as opposed to polishing side activities. But on the other hand, it’s always immensely satisfying to build out your criminal empire in the endgame to ridiculous proportions. And I heavily lean towards the latter here.

I do appreciate a good story, but I also think that Rockstar can still knock it out the park even with a more split focus. But another thing that always enters the conversation is revenue. The cold, hard fact is that Rockstar stands to make a lot more from GTA 6 Online than the base game, and so moving stuff like that over entirely probably seems very appealing to those who worry more about the profits than the game.

And with some of the recent decisions around GTA 6, this is a very real worry to me — that we get a watered-down, hurried story and game in favor of an already-established Online version that’s ready to go at launch, but kept quiet for a couple of weeks to allow players to rush through the story.

These are just some hopes and fears, though, and we’ll just have to wait for confirmation. I really, really hope Rockstar does GTA 6 justice, because it might well be the last mainline GTA game we ever get.

So, what do you think? Will we be able to buy property in GTA 6, or will we have to wait for GTA 6 Online?