I’m not sure that widespread use of the platform is indicative of widespread love of the platform. People are entrenched, have sunk so much into it, and can’t find acceptable alternatives (cries in Fediverse). I’d guess that most people still using the platform do so out of necessity/ obligation while wishing for something better.

Oh, did GTA IV have multiplayer? That’s the one I’m least familiar with. Must not have been nearly as robust as GTA V’s.

GTA V made online the core component of it’s game. So much so, that they innitially considered GTA Online to be a seperate game included with GTA V.

You contradicted yourself there. GTA Online can’t be both a core component of GTA V and a standalone game.

So Rockstar, who already had the most financially successful game of all time in GTA V from game sales alone, put its resources into the online component in order to fund the development of its sequel. It’s not like they needed to attract new players to the single player game, being, again, that it was the most successful game of all time. Technically it was the most successful media venture of all time (it made more money than any movie, music, or game ever).

If they hadn’t done that, GTA VI and RDR 2 would’ve had smaller budgets and likely wouldn’t have been as good.

I see nothing wrong with this.

Only one GTA game has had an online component. Every GTA game since 3 has been a best-in-class, genre/generation-defining singleplayer experience.

You pay for the singleplayer. The online bit is just gravy. Some people like said gravy enough to fund the development of Rockstar’s next game. I see nothing wrong with this.