Rockstar Games hasn’t said much of anything about GTA 6’s potential multiplayer offerings, but the developer is making strides for GTA Online’s roleplaying community. A watch-only nopixel 5 closed beta is coming next week.
More than three years ago, Rockstar bought out the modding team and the tech powering FiveM, a GTA Online RP platform the studio had once tried to bury. Today, the studio revealed the fruits of that partnership: Rockstar’s official roleplaying server, nopixel 5.
“Rockstar is finally throwing its weight behind nopixel, a group that has long redefined roleplay via deep immersion and custom map tweaks,” Rockstar wrote in its announcement blog. “Starting 8 September, nopixel 5 closed beta kicks off, allowing a handful of invited players to jump in using the studio’s own launcher.”
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Sadly, it sounds like the nopixel 5 closed beta will only be available to select content creators and well-known GTA Online roleplayers, though you can watch along via livestreams next week. Rockstar’s promising “familiar faces reprising fan-favorite characters and new personalities beginning their own stories.”
“GTA Roleplay has essentially morphed Grand Theft Auto 5 into a community-driven, multiplayer rendition of Los Santos where participants inhabit bespoke characters to weave personal narratives in a living, shared ecosystem,” the studio explained. “Whether players are law-abiding civilians earning a paycheck or outlaws hunting a payday—policed by an actual player-managed force—the city is shaped by every interaction and individual bond.”
This latest iteration of nopixel apparently overhauls the server’s character creator, adds in new landmarks to toy around in, and offers “refreshed visuals” and “more reactive pedestrians.” Nopixel 5 will also be available via Rockstar’s own launcher, so you won’t need to mess around with outside tools when nopixel 5 eventually opens its curtains up to everyone.