NEW GTA 6 GAMEPLAY DETAILS REVEALED: - Jason can call Lucia to hang out in the open world - You can kiss her and hold hands while walking - Jason and Lucia can casually drive around and spend time together outside missions - You can visit gyms together. Lucia used a treadmill while Jason did squats - Banks can be scoped out before deciding whether they’re worth robbing - Rockstar says cash is “vulnerable” and wants money to matter more than ever - Cash can be deposited at ATMs - Jason and Lucia can enter back rooms, disable alarms and rob businesses without alerting anyone - Rockstar says there are HUNDREDS of smaller interiors to explore - Salons can be visited for haircuts - Random pedestrian encounters can escalate into fights and police calls - The Wanted system can identify details about suspects, including that Jason and Lucia are a couple - Splitting up and escaping separately can help avoid police - Rockstar says playing together in free roam is “a completely new way to play GTA” - Rockstar also spent significant time experimenting with systems like the weapon wheel [Via Bloomberg / Jason Schreier]

GTA 5 Launch Trailer (2013) vs GTA 6 Launch Trailer (2026)

MORE GTA 6 DEVELOPMENT DETAILS REVEALED: - GTA 6 has a dedicated sweat system, with Jason and Lucia sweating more depending on how much they physically exert themselves - Nightclubs are heavily simulated, with individual NPCs, music and lighting that moves in sync with the beat - Rockstar built a new Los Angeles studio largely focused on creating GTA 6 NPCs - Rockstar leadership says it genuinely believed GTA 6 could release in 2025 when Trailer 1 was revealed, although some developers were reportedly skeptical - GTA 6’s trailers act as major “guiding lights” internally and help align the development team on the game’s overall vision - Some developers felt GTA 6’s three heads of development occasionally made conflicting decisions, although Rob Nelson pushed back on that characterization - Rockstar says the delays were not caused by one major problem, but by many systems, technical issues and parts of the game finishing at different times - GTA 6 is still being changed even within the final months of development, with Rockstar saying the game is never completely “settled” [Via Jason Schreier]

NEW GTA 6 DETAILS REVEALED: - Rockstar pushed back on claims GTA 6 cost over $1.5 BILLION to develop. The actual budget remains undisclosed - GTA 6 has been in full development for 8+ years - Rockstar originally planned to develop GTA 6 alongside RDR2, but RDR2 took most of the company’s resources and senior leadership - Rockstar now focuses most of the company on one major game at a time - Rockstar grew from 2,441 employees when RDR2 released to 4,711 across 12 offices - GTA 6 has no single traditional game director. Development is led by Rob Nelson, Aaron Garbut and Phil Hooker - Development went through a “dark period” while Rockstar struggled to settle on the game’s direction - Developers disagreed over realism, gameplay systems and major design decisions - Rockstar debated how detailed basic interactions like buying beer or sandwich ingredients should be - The original Project Americas concept was much larger, with areas inspired by North and South America - COVID disrupted development and temporarily stopped performance capture - Rockstar’s rapid expansion caused communication problems between teams - Some senior designers left after becoming frustrated with the lack of progress - A major technical challenge was making Jason and Lucia naturally spend long periods together in the open world - Their systems support texting, meeting up, holding hands, gyms, robberies, police chases and continuous conversations - GTA 6’s interconnected systems, NPCs and world complexity contributed to both delays - Strauss Zelnick was reportedly surprised by the second delay to November 19, but supported it after Rockstar explained why it was needed - During Jason Schreier’s late-September visit, development was mainly focused on bug fixing and polish - November 19 is currently viewed internally as achievable - Rockstar says working conditions are significantly better than during RDR2 - Some RDR2 developers worked roughly 60-hour weeks for months - Rockstar has since hired more staff, improved scheduling and introduced compensation for extra hours - Crunch has not been completely eliminated - Employees currently work in-office five days a week and cannot remotely access development tools for security reasons - Rockstar will reconsider its remote-work policy after GTA 6 launches - Developers described the 2022 leak as invasive and demoralising - The 2026 leak caused further frustration as stricter security still failed to prevent another leak - Rockstar says it will recognise a union if employees choose to form one - Analysts cited by Bloomberg expect GTA 6 could sell around 40 MILLION copies and generate over $3 BILLION in its first four months - GTA 6’s online component is expected in 2027 - Rockstar believes GTA 6’s new technology, engine and tools will make future games much faster to develop - Leadership does not expect its next major release to take another 8+ years - Aaron Garbut says much of Rockstar’s core technology has now been rebuilt and won’t need another complete overhaul for the next project [Via Bloomberg / Jason Schreier]

Rockstar Games reveals its next major release won’t take another 8+ years to develop. GTA 6 required major technology work that won’t need to be rebuilt from scratch next time.