> This online gamemode alone made $1 billion in 2017 alone.
There's the answer right there. They figure it's making $1B/yr, leave it alone. Maintenance? That cuts into the billion. Everyone moved onto the next project.
I would not at all be surprised if the long load time made for a sunk cost that kept people playing for longer sessions rather than picking it up for less than half an hour at a time.
I enjoyed GTA online but haven't touched it in well over a year, and the insane loading times are definitely a big reason why. For those who haven't played the game it's important to emphasize that it's
usually in the 5minute range, and even then you'll regularly end up with
connectivity issues or other problems that will kick you out of the lobby for
yet an other ~5 minute load.
When I played it wasn't uncommon to spend 30 minutes mostly looking at the
loading screen while you were trying to set up a play session with a couple of
friends.
If you're an adult with limited playtime it's just a complete dealbreaker. You
can't just decide to have a quick 20minute play session if you know that you'll
have to spend at least half of it looking at loading screens.
This is actually very possible - if they allowed people to dip in and dip out, they will. I remember when CP2077 came out on GeForce NOW and the wait times were 30+mins. I'd play a 6 hour session until I was booted off simply to make it worth the wait.
There's the answer right there. They figure it's making $1B/yr, leave it alone. Maintenance? That cuts into the billion. Everyone moved onto the next project.