Grand Theft Auto V "Heists" DLC Gameplay Trailer Released

Source: IGN

No, this isn't not a drug-addled hallucination - Heists are on their way to GTA Online.
Rockstar Games have just released a new gameplay trailer promoting the latest downloadable expansion for the online portion of their open-world third-person-shooter video game Grand Theft Auto V. Titled "Heists", this long-awaited DLC pack will boast a series of missions based loosely on the set-pieces which proved to be the highlights of the product's central single-player campaign, only now these missions will allow multiple players to band together in order to pull off said criminal schemes in the most efficient and, dare we say, explosive ways possible.

If it's any consolation, we're under no illusion about the fact that the vast majority of our readers will most likely scroll straight down to the video link at the rear end of this article in order to give the trailer a watch and quite frankly, we can't blame you. Rockstar have been promising the release of "Heists" ever since the 360 / PS3 edition of GTA V (and with it, of course, GTA Online) launched back in September 2013, provoking a somewhat strained relationship with their fan-base as a result of us feeling rather uncertain as to whether the DLC would ever actually see the light of day. See the light of day it will, however, in the early stages of next year (though exactly when still remains the question), and to celebrate, the development team provided the following teasers regarding the much-anticipated (free to download) package in an interview with IGN:

• ON THE REASONING BEHIND "HEISTS"' VARIOUS DELAYS - "As it turns out, creating missions of [this] complexity for multiple players at the same time was much more difficult than we had anticipated and every time we thought we were close, something would send us back to square one. Having already let players know our intentions with "Heists", every setback only increased the pressure to make sure we got them right. After many months of designing, testing, rewriting and re-testing, we settled on the four-player structure that you will experience in the game. It took a ton of work from our programmers and mission designers to make it work at the level we were happy with. We never want to have to move a date but if something is delayed, it's because it's not at the level we expect of ourselves."
• ON WHAT'S REQUIRED OF PLAYERS TO PARTAKE IN HEISTS - "Each heist requires 4 players all at rank 12 or above, with one player as the designated heist leader. From there you'll be able to launch missions as the leader, starting with the prep work and building up to the score [heist] itself."
• ON THE MOST PROMISING HEIST MISSION CONCEIVED SO FAR - "[It] would be the finale of an epic prison break where players come from different points on the map to join together [as a pilot, a demolitions expert and undercover agents] at just the right time."

Now that we've got those tantalising comments from Imran Sarwar out of the way, let's get down to business and commence the main event. Take a look below to catch the first full teaser for "Heists" before letting us know your thoughts at any of the usual social networking mediums (in all honesty, you'd be best advised to either join our official Facebook group or follow yours truly on Twitter (@tbuxton42)).

Grand Theft Auto V's "Heists" DLC will launch on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and PC marketplaces ready for use within the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows editions of the title "early in 2015" (according to Rockstar's latest blog post).