Rockstar Games might not keep fans waiting as long for the next installment of Grand Theft Auto. As part of Bloomberg’s expansive report on the making of GTA VI, Rockstar technical lead Phil Hooker said that the “engine, the tools and the team we’ve built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly.”
We might not have to wait 13 years for the next GTA
Rockstar’s Phil Hooker says the engine and tools that the team has built ‘will allow us to do things more quickly.’
Rockstar’s Phil Hooker says the engine and tools that the team has built ‘will allow us to do things more quickly.’
Image: Rockstar Games
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GTA VI had a notoriously long development process. It took eight years to make, leaving a 13-year gap between this upcoming installment and GTA V.
The report points to the one-year gap between Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which was possible because Rockstar already had the framework in place for its next project. “I feel confident that we can build on top of this [GTA VI] and go more sideways than upwards to build more compelling content,” Hooker told Bloomberg.
There were several other interesting details in the report as well, including:
- Rockstar built a studio dedicated to creating nonplayable characters (NPCs) after the team realized it lacked the “production capabilities” needed to write and animate all of the game’s NPCs. That contributed to the game’s delay. “I think when it became apparent that some areas weren’t going to make it, that’s when we decided to make the shift of date,” Hooker said. “We could hit that schedule, but it won’t be the game we want to make.”
- GTA VI apparently didn’t cost more than $1.5 billion to develop, as Rockstar’s publishing head Jennifer Kolbe shut down a report that suggested it was more expensive to build than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
- Rockstar head of development Aaron Garbut responded to the massive GTA VI leak in 2022: “It feels like somebody’s wading through your dirty washing,” Garbut told Bloomberg. “It’s like they’re inside your head. You see your early work out there. Nobody’s ever supposed to see that. It’s really weirdly invasive. And so it’s quite hard to deal with on an emotional level.”
- Since 2018, the number of Rockstar employees has risen from 2,441 to 4,711 across 12 offices.
GTA VI launches on November 19th on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S.
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