Rockstar Games reportedly rebooted development on Grand Theft Auto VI around the release of Red Dead Redemption 2. GTA 6 is probably the most highly anticipated game on the horizon given it’s the follow-up to the second best selling game of all-time. Grand Theft Auto V had a massive impact when it was released in 2013 and it has only continued to grow in the years since thanks to GTA Online. However, a direct follow-up wasn’t Rockstar Games’ immediate priority as it opted to make Red Dead Redemption 2, a prequel to its 2010 western that was showered in praise. Apparently, though, this wasn’t the only thing the developer was working on.
According to Rockstar Games insider Tez2, GTA 6 was actually in full development before the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, but it was rebooted around the time the 2018 western game was released. The game was apparently rebooted for multiple reasons, including concerns of crunch due to the scale of the game and new animation technology. The insider mentioned a patent from Rockstar that allowed them to work with new tech and GTAForums users pointed to a patent from 2020 that allows for more realistic NPC behavior, particularly in vehicles. Bloomberg noted earlier this year that the game was initially intended to include multiple countries, but was scaled back to focus on Vice City. As such, the game is codenamed Project Americas, but it doesn’t sound like that will be truly representative of the final product now.
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With the rebooted development, COVID causing changes in how developers operate, and more, it’s no surprise that it has been such a long time between GTA 5 and 6. Of course, it should be noted these are just rumors right now. However, it doesn’t necessarily seem like it’s a bad thing if it leads to a more focused game. Recently leaked footage from GTA 6 certainly showed that the game does have interesting ideas, it just remains to be seen what it will look like.
What do you want to see from GTA 6? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
