More popular than GTA V online? Welcome to multiplayer GTA: San Andreas

GTA V continues to be an incredibly popular game.

Consistently placed in Steam’s top ten bestselling games, the game reaches a peak of around 50,000 active users daily.

It’s not the most popular open-world crime game on PC however, not by a long shot.

That title goes to the now 11 years old GTA: San Andreas and its two absolutely massive multiplayer mods, reports RockPaperShotgun.

“Multi Theft Auto, had 616,000 players in July (up from just 33k in February 2010), while the other, SA-MP, oscillates between about 15,000 and 50,000 concurrent players”.

Why do these mods prove to be so popular despite the existence of a much newer (and arguably better game)?

“GTA Online puts up to 30 players on each server, and it doesn’t let you choose the server.”

“SA-MP and MTA allow much larger player counts — sometimes several hundred, depending on the server — and in traditional PC gaming style offer up a long list of servers to choose from, each of which has its own rules, available game modes, and eccentricities.”

In short the mods provide such a wide array of options (everything from cops and robbers to pure roleplaying) that GTA V: Online can’t or won’t emulate.

The community is also a lot nicer, says MTA developer Dan.

“Where GTA Online has a “passive” mode that offers a scant layer of protection for newbies and non-violent players (there are, sadly, many ways to kill a player set as passive), Multi Theft Auto and SA-MP each offer hundreds of servers where cold-blooded murder is rare.”

“As SA-MP player JasperM notes, “the GTA SA online community is a lot more friendly and less toxic than GTA Online where people randomly hunt you down for no reason.”