In a recent interview, Rockstar revealed that GTA Online's launch of Diamond Casino & Resort has been a record launch that drew in the most players since the game launched back in 2013. Unfortunately, they didn't provide exact figures.
According to what they told the Hollywood Reporter, Diamond Casino & Resort blew the earlier records out of the water, both in terms of biggest single player count and the best week in terms of numbers.
Peculiarly enough, Rockstar didn't provide the exact figures, which means we're going to extrapolate some info from what we already know about GTA Online.
GTA Online launched on 01 October 2019 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, followed by PS4 and Xbox One launches in November 2014, with the PC piece of the puzzle arriving on 14 April 2015.
Unsurprisingly, the game's biggest week came after the PC version was launched and Rockstar reported around 8 million players weekly in November 2015.
It's obvious that Rockstar weren't very open to sharing exact numbers four years ago either, but the message is clear - GTA Online's launch of Diamond Casino & Resort drew in more than 8 million players in the week it launched, or the one after it.
Rockstar launched the Diamond Casino & Resort on 23 July 2019 with a bang, together with a website that could put some actual casinos to shame.
Granted, the timing was a bit iffy, for two reasons. Firstly, the casino was one of the first announced features but the 'Opening Soon' sign was there for so long, most GTA Online players lost hope it will ever arrive.
Secondly, after Belgium's move to put a stop to peddling loot boxes to minors, the UK seemed to follow , but the initiative quickly went back to the blackboard .
Rockstar Games
Nevertheless, it was strange that Rockstar would launch the casino in midst of this, but they did seem to ensure they're not included in these restrictions.
What's particularly sad is that it seems that the casino was meant to be a full-fledged GTA expansion, which Rockstar chopped up into GTA Online updates.
You can find Rockstar's statement via Hollywood Reporter .
GTA Online by Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive
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