A recent datamine shows that GTA 5 is hiding a multiplayer mode from GTA 4. The cut content was removed by Rockstar just before the launch of GTA Online and shows a very different way that GTA Online could have been played.

For those who played GTA 4, you might be familiar with the game’s ‘Cops ‘n’ Crooks’ mode. This saw two teams of cops and crooks compete across the entire map of Liberty City. The premise was pretty simple. The crooks would have to escort their boss to a certain location in Liberty City while the cops would have to try and stop them.

Rockstar had originally planned to release a similar mode in GTA 5 but this was ultimately canceled in 2020. However, the datamine seems to suggest that the variant of Cops ‘n’ Crooks was present in GTA 5 all the way back in 2013 when it originally launched. This would have seen both criminals and law enforcement battling over territories in Los Santos. Acting as almost a Risk-style game players would have to defend their own territories while also fighting to take over enemy territories.

Series fans might notice a similarity between this mode and the gang territory system in GTA: San Andreas. In that title, the entirety of Los Santos was divided amongst the Grove Street Families and the Ballas. YouTuber Wildbrick142, who shared elements of the datamine suggested that players in GTA 5 would be competing for at least 41 territories.

It seems unlikely that GTA Online will add the mode but there are probably still plenty of ways to play a variation of it whether that’s with mods or in one of the many GTA Online RP servers. This datamine however seems to be the least of Rockstar’s worries however with part of GTA 5‘s source code leaking online and the recent GTA 6 datamine leaks. If you’re looking for some more lighthearted news surrounding the Grand Theft Auto series it was recently reported that a GTA film starring Eminem was once rejected by Rockstar. Imagine a world where that came true. Where would that even rank amongst video game adaptations to film/TV? I guess we’ll never know. However, it’s still fun to theorize and speculate about what could have been whether it’s a GTA movie or the potential Cops ‘n’ Crooks mode in GTA Online.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is currently available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Source: PCGamesN