•Rockstar Games leadership says it is “confident” that its next titles will not take as long to develop as Grand Theft Auto 6 did, arguing that work completed on the current game should let the studio build “more sideways than upwards.” The claim comes even though a similar promise of greater efficiency appears to have accompanied Red Dead Redemption 2.
According to a report by Bloomberg for Rock Paper Shotgun, Phil Hooker—one of three veteran Rockstar developers who served as heads of development on what is referred to as “Impressive Nicking Vehicles”—made the assertion. “The engine, the tools and the team we’ve built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly,” he said. “I feel confident that we can build on top of this and go more sideways than upwards to build more compelling content.”
Aaron Garbut, a fellow lead, added: “We foundationally changed a lot of stuff on this project. But now it’s done, and we’re not going to rip it apart.” The two appear to be suggesting that Rockstar’s next game will not take the eight years GTA 6 took from early development to release.
The report notes, however, that similar logic was used in the late 2010s to justify Rockstar focusing all its attention on finishing Red Dead Redemption 2 rather than developing GTA 6 concurrently. “As that game’s ambitions grew, Nelson realized he needed to mobilize most of Rockstar, including the senior leadership, to help finish it,” Bloomberg reported. “That meant pushing GTA 6 back several years, but the benefit was that everything they built could ‘pay off when we get to the game,’ Nelson says.”
The implication is that if GTA 6 would otherwise have taken even longer without work done on RDR2, then the hoped-for boost from that earlier project has not expedited development much.
Rockstar is currently involved in employment tribunal proceedings over the firing of 34 staff members last year, whom the company accused of putting confidential information about the game at risk of leaking. The dismissed employees and the IWGB Union accuse Rockstar of being motivated instead by a desire to bust unions. Meanwhile, remaining developers have been pushing the company to voluntarily recognise the union they formed earlier this year.
GTA 6
Red Dead Redemption 2
Bloomberg
employment tribunal proceedings
pushing the company
formed earlier this year
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