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| Image: Rockstar Games |
With the expected launch of The Music Locker, an underground nightclub that will star real-world DJs in residence, Grand Theft Auto Online is about to get its own concert venue. Monday's announcement means that developer Rockstar Games is taking advantage of other savvy online games such as Fortnite and Roblox.
Those games and many others in the online social scene have started to turn their immersive worlds into entertainment hubs that have become crucial ways to fill the void left by the absence of live music and other real-world activities in the middle of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The strategy of Epic with Fortnite was to book big-name electronic music and hip-hop acts, such as Diplo and Travis Scott, as part of its new Party Royale mode, to play surreal sets on its virtual island. Yet Rockstar, based on the real-world underground electronic music scene, strives for a more practical approach. In its fictionalised interpretation of Los Angeles, the developer is developing The Music Locker as a place you might really attend in real life, located underneath The Diamond in-game casino and spa.
In DJing, including Detroit-based producer Moodymann and Berlin group Keinemusik, the Music Locker has also secured legendary names to be its first artists in residence, each apparently having their own custom GTA Online avatars. Rockstar would also help you enjoy high-roller status with VIP rewards that you will only get if at The Diamond you've owned a penthouse suite.
For the Grand Theft Auto franchise, this is not a major departure. The open-world crime series and its in-game radio stations has always signed high-profile artists. Producer Flying Lotus, who was given his own radio station (FlyLo FM) and the right to curate his own track list, was one of his most influential contributions to 2013's Grand Theft Auto V.
But it makes sense that Rockstar may try to find ways to give fans of GTA Online a way to witness at least some of the sensations of live music, given the current climate surrounding events and entertainment. And it's also doing so in a way that gives artists an opportunity to perform again, especially DJs and producers (and not just big commercial ones) who have been hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic by the full evaporation of real-world nightlife.
