GTA Online players are awaiting the next big DLC update, expected to release in the summer.
The gaming community doesn't know much about the 2023 summer DLC as Rockstar Games hasn't revealed much, and insiders haven't been able to find much.
However, there are hints about Michael de Santa's appearance in GTA Online's summer DLC. This article will cover why he should be part of the next DLC update.
Game code and more reasons why Michael should be in GTA Online
1) Hints from the game's source code
According to the famous insider Tez2's tweet on June 3, 2022, another data miner found a few hints in GTA Online's game code in the PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles.
The developers had encoded a new scenario spawn into the game in front of Record A studios, with a Vinewood-based NPC tagged with the movie_set "Item" object type in the code.
This is one of the biggest leads players have for Michael's appearance in the summer DLC.
2) A closer look at the Vinewood NPC
A random Twitter user that goes by the alias Officer de Toro replied to Tez2's tweet in the form of a photo he clicked of the Vinewood NPC in-game.
In the photo, he found some ID that shows that the NPC is a security guard in Vinewood. Talk about an easter egg!
Rockstar Games could have put it as a placeholder, or they were planning to use the NPC later in a future DLC, perhaps, the 2023 summer DLC.
3) First mention of Michael (Contract DLC)
In the Contract DLC, Franklin Clinton is reintroduced as a big-time guy who's co-running F. Clinton and Partner, a new celebrity solutions agency, with the GTA Online Protagonist, i.e., the player.
When the player meets Franklin for the first time in his office, he tells them about how his agency helps the rich folk in solving certain problems and indirectly mentions Michael de Santa as a rich individual who "owed money to the wrong people" and whose wife was "having an affair with her tennis coach."
4) Second mention of Michael (Contract DLC)
In one of the missions in the Contract DLC, when Franklin meets Dr. Dre at the golf club, he begins chasing two golfers, who later drive through the film studio premises. During the chase, Franklin says to the player:
"Man, sh*t, I know one of the producers around here. I hope his a*s ain't at work today."
It is crystal clear that Franklin must have been talking about Michael, who is confirmingly alive and working for Solomon Richards as an associate producer at Richards Majestic Studio.
5) Vespucci Job Remix
Vespucci Job Remix in GTA Online is probably one of the weakest arguments about Michael's reappearance in the game, but it could have possible leads.
Tez2 has been a well-established GTA insider and expert, and he did mention the movie references in The Vespucci Job Remix. The game mode consists of many references from movies like Fast and Furious, Skyfall, Goldfinger, and Gone in 60 Seconds.
With all the focus on films and movies in the mode, certain game theorists believe that there is a high possibility that Michael de Santa will be making his return to the game as a producer.
It should be noted that all of these arguments for Michael's appearance in summer DLC 2023 should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Since Rockstar Games haven't said anything about Michael de Santa appearing in the future DLCs, it is merely a possibility.