GTA 6 Was Partly Delayed Because the NPC Count Was “Terrifying,” Requiring a Dedicated Studio Full of Writers

We could have stuck to that schedule, but this game would not be what we want to make.”

"We [could] get to the schedule, but it's not going to be the game we want to make."

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Grand Theft Auto 6, which was originally due for release in May, was pushed back to November - the reason at the time being to "finish the game with the level you've come to expect and deserve". And while that's still largely true, the reality of the game's scale and height was apparently somewhat terrifying from a production standpoint.

Speaking to Bloomberg, one of the reasons for the delay - the amount of NPCs needed to populate Leonidas - said development director Rob Nelson: "The projections they were giving us were terrible." The solution? A sort of NPC emergency room, a full studio set up in Los Angeles designed solely to handle the workload.

Another development manager, Phil Hooker, said: "I think when it became clear that some areas weren't going to make it, that's when we decided to change the date. We could achieve the schedule, but it wouldn't be the game we wanted to make."

To be perfectly frank for a moment: this fills me with a sense of awe and relief. The first is from the same residual existential dread I felt last May. Namely, the fact that video games probably aren't meant to look this good or be this expansive - that the industry simply can't support them, and GTA 6 will be the last of its kind.

Solace comes from the fact that in an industrial culture seemingly determined to figure out how to get creative people out of their seats as quickly as possible with artificial intelligence? That a bunch of real writers and producers were brought in to handle this burden. There's a perception that background details in video games can be automated because, well, they're background details – surely they don't matter?

GTA 6 has more than 10 times more unique animations than GTA 5, thanks to a dedicated "art direction" team for each NPC.

The GTA 6 leak shows the game to be more GTA-like, but not a revolution

But in my humble opinion, these are actually the details you want to get right. Background chatter and world building are important to a game because they add texture to the game, even if you're just emulating Florida.

GTA 6 would be a better game because, when its developers panicked, Rockstar (who doesn't have the brightest track record in the industry, let's be clear) didn't cheapen out on the massive amount of writing they stumbled upon, and that's commendable in a vacuum.

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Now, is it healthy or normal that an industry giant can be so big that it can afford an entire studio in Los Angeles full of writers just to do a temporary job? Probably not, and certainly not something that will last, especially not at the current industry price point.

GTA 6 PC release: when is it happening?

Harvey's gaming history began when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription at the age of 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a strong interest in G'raha Tia. He started his career as a freelancer and wrote for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine and of course PC Gamer. He sinks his teeth into anything that sounds interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, ghosts, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and the odd indie title. He also plays a TTRPG rack in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favorite system is, he has too many.

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