GTA VI 在 GTA V 发售超过 13 年后到来，但 Rockstar 直到 2019 年才真正开始制作

4811 days, or 687 weeks and 2 days, or simply 13 years, 2 months, and 2 days: that's how long it's been from the original launch of GTA V to the scheduled and now imminent release of GTA VI. For the record, that's substantially longer than the entire period between GTA III and GTA V (4348 days, or 11 years, 10 months, and 26 days).

Why did it take Rockstar Games so long, though? That's a question millions of fans have asked themselves over these past years, and now Jason Schreier has tried to answer it in his latest video. According to Bloomberg's journalist, to begin with, Rockstar had hoped to develop GTA VI and Red Dead Redemption 2 roughly at the same time. However, that quickly became unfeasible as the studio realized that the ambitious project required singular attention, and thus, the bulk of the manpower was moved to RDR2. This was absolutely the right choice, as it allowed Rockstar to create a timeless masterpiece that can still be regarded as one of the best open world games ever made.

The downside was that proper GTA VI development didn't really kick off until 2019. Moreover, Schreier reports that, at least for the first three or four years, the game's overall vision wasn't entirely clear. The journalist attributes that to the fact three developers (Rob Nelson, Aaron Garbut, and Phil Hooker, who have been the most outspoken in recent interviews) shared the title of Head of Development, which resulted in some indecisions, or at least that's how it was reportedly perceived at the studio's "ground level". For example, something they allegedly struggled on settling for a while was just how much of RDR2's incredible realism should be brought over to the new Grand Theft Auto game.

GTA VI's early years of development also coincided largely with the COVID pandemic, which certainly did not make things years for Rockstar. Most developers nowadays agree that it delayed a lot of project by around a year, and it may well be the case for this title as well. Eventually, a more cohesive vision of the game emerged around 2022, and a year later we got the first trailer.

Even then, there were still other issues to iron out along the way, and some features simply took more time than others to come together. Of course, part of the reason for the long development is simply the extreme detail that's been put into the game; for example, Schreier said Rockstar revealed to him that there's a sweat system that calculates how much Jason, Lucia, or even an NPC will sweat based on how much physical activity they're engaged in. If they’re dancing extra hard in the nightclub, they will sweat more.

Lastly, Rockstar did not wish to repeat the massive crunch that led to the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2. They implemented more rigorous scheduling, and they also nearly doubled the studio size (from 2441 employees in 2018 to 4711 employees as of August 2026). The upside is that, according to the studio, the tools developed while creating this game will accelerate the making of future projects.

GTA VI is out on November 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X. The PC version, according to a fresh rumor, should land at some point in early 2027.

About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.

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