While Rockstar North has been the main team working on Grand Theft Auto 6 so far, studio co-lead Rob Nelson has revealed that Rockstar Games co-founder and president Sam Houser has also been integral in the game’s development. In an interview with Edge (via GamesRadar), Nelson said that Houser was involved with many facets of GTA 6, from its initial conception to its general direction.
Houser and Nelson also work together to “identify problems or issues” that they can figure out how to fix across the various teams working on the massive project. Further in the interview, Nelson said that he spends a couple of weeks with Houser every time Rockstar Games hits a new development milestone for Grand Theft Auto 6. The two then discuss feedback and even talk about smaller things like lighting and audio.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is shaping up to be Rockstar Games’ most ambitious title yet. Head of development Aaron Garbutt recently revealed that the title will even allow players to have a life in the game thanks to the sheer number of activities and gameplay systems available.
“You can really make the game what you want it to be at the time, whether that’s more of a roleplay experience where you’re buying cigarettes and beer in the shop and going on the train for the day, or going to a club. You can have your life in the game.”
This emphasis on realism goes quite far, and according to Nelson, the team has even managed to impart different personality traits on its various NPCs in the open world. This was done thanks to the creation of around 600,000 different animations for these characters, allowing them to be quite expressive.
On the subject of when these personality traits would be showcased, Nelson said that it all depends on the situation in the game. Different animations showing off the NPCs’ personalities will be seen depending on questions like “Who’s going to be aggressive? How many people are going to go for a weapon? How many are going to test me?”
Speaking about the team’s ambition, Garbut has said that Rockstar hasn’t “compromised on the scale, the detail, the interactivity, the story, the open world. I feel like we’ve built a pyramid on Everest.”
This also means that the studio is facing plenty of pressure, especially since Grand Theft Auto 6 will likely end up being one of the biggest game launches that the industry has ever seen. However, Nelson says that the team will have to let things play out before letting the pressure get to it. “It’s ready. It ceases to become ours, and it becomes everybody’s. Then, there’s a letting go.”
Director of technology Phil Hooker also acknowledged the potential public response to the game when it comes out on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19th, noting that Rockstar “made what we wanted to make”, and that he “can’t guess the public reaction” before the title comes out.
For more on Grand Theft Auto 6, take a look at how weather can affect things like sailing and flying.
