Rockstar: next GTA won't take 13 years — SkimNews
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- Phil Hooker, Rockstar's technical lead, told Bloomberg the engine, tools, and team built during GTA VI development will let the studio "do things more quickly" on future projects.
- GTA VI took 8 years to develop, creating a 13-year gap from GTA V, and Hooker pointed to the 1-year turnaround between GTA III and Vice City as a model for "going more sideways than upwards" with future content.
- Rockstar built a dedicated studio for nonplayable characters after realizing it lacked the production capabilities to write and animate all of GTA VI's NPCs — a shortfall Hooker said contributed to the game's delay.
- GTA VI did not cost more than $1.5 billion to develop, according to Rockstar publishing head Jennifer Kolbe, who rejected a prior report claiming the game was pricier than Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
- Aaron Garbut, Rockstar's head of development, called the massive 2022 GTA VI leak "wading through your dirty washing," saying seeing early work exposed felt "really weirdly invasive" on an emotional level.
- Rockstar's workforce nearly doubled from 2,441 employees in 2018 to 4,711 across 12 offices.
- GTA VI launches November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Why it matters: The 13-year GTA V-to-VI gap was driven by GTA VI's massive scope and scaling bottlenecks, not Rockstar's baseline pace. With a dedicated NPC studio, a near-doubled headcount of 4,711, and a mature engine now in place, Hooker is explicitly benchmarking the next project against the 1-year GTA III-to-Vice City turnaround — signaling a structural reset to shorter release cycles.
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