Insider reveals why Rockstar “rebooted” GTA 6 development

Michael Gwilliam
GTA 6 locations and event details leaked

A notable Rockstar Games insider has revealed why development on GTA 6 was “rebooted” as fans thirst for official news about the long-anticipated game.

GTA 6 is one of, if not the most, hyped video game of all time with millions of fans worldwide anticipating its release. Still, despite recent excitement following a slew of leaked footage, fans have been left wondering when the game will finally be officially revealed.

As it turns out, fans may have even longer to wait as insider Adrien Perea claimed that GTA 6 will finally release in 2025. The reason for this delay, however, could stem from the fact development of the game had to be rebooted.

Tez2, who has accurately leaked information about Rockstar such as remasters of GTA 4 and RDR1 being scrapped, posted on GTAForums discussing how the next GTA was revamped.

GTA 6 leaked content in GTA online
Rockstar has still yet to officially reveal GTA 6.

Rockstar insider explains why GTA 6 was “rebooted”

First, citing a report from Bloomberg, Tez2 reiterated that the game was initially codenamed ‘Project Americas’ and was supposed to feature more cities in South America before being changed to just Vice City to reduce crunch.

“VI was in full development prior to RDR2’s release, but it was rebooted around the time RDR2 released,” he said. “Rockstar submitted a patent and one of its inventors didn’t join Rockstar Games until 2019. Since then, Rockstar recruited more Animation R&D team developers than usual.”

In 2019, Rockstar filed a patent entitled ‘System And Method For Virtual Navigation In A Gaming Environment.’ Part of it details NPCs having “specific characteristics for traversing the road nodes,” which could lead to more realistic drivers in the game.

According to Tez2, most of these new devs specialize in Machine Learning techniques and the leaked footage from earlier in September showcases the animation team’s effort.

gta 6 reboot details
Tez2 says GTA 6’s development had to be rebooted.

“While the crunch concerns were surely part of the reasons behind the ‘reboot,’ Rockstar probably required new Animation tech as well. So the reboot happened due to a multitude of reasons that all worked in favor of Rockstar,” Tez2 concluded.

Of course, take everything with a grain of salt, but it’s important to note that Tez2 does have a solid track record of leaks. If it’s accurate, we’ll have to see if Rockstar’s decision to reboot development was worth it, especially if the game only releases in 2025.

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About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam