GTA Online's next heist arrives December 15, takes you to an island paradise

A plane flies over a sign reading "Cayo Perico" against the sunset.

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

The temperature's dropping, the days are getting shorter, but nobody's going on a sunny winter break anytime soon. Except, of course, the criminal syndicates of Grand Theft Auto Online, whose next heist will take us to tropical shores for an unseasonably warm adventure in The Cayo Perico Heist next month.

Announced today, the GTA Online's next Heist adventure is special, insofar as it doesn't actually require you to get the band back together. Rather, you can take on the "remote island compound of the world’s most notorious drug dealer" all by yourself, though the offer to split the winnings with up to three friends still stands.

As for the heist itself—Rockstar calls it their biggest one yet, giving you an entire island compound to skulk and shoot your way around. As with the Diamond Casino, there'll be a series of missions ahead of the big score to help determine your final approach. Pull it all off, and you might even abscond with enough cash to set yourself up in a nifty nuclear submarine HQ.

Alongside the heist, next month's update arrives with an arsenal of new weapons and vehicles, tropical social spaces to chill out in, and new radio stations featuring over 100 new tunes.

The Cayo Perico Heist arrives on December 15th, with more details to come as the date approaches. That's plenty of time to rehearse with GTA Online's existing heists, which have been handily ranked by our Joe Donnelly.

Disclosure: My partner is currently a network programmer at Rockstar Games.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.