The next GTA was announced in February, when Rockstar said that development of the unnamed game (which we’re calling GTA 6 for now) is “well underway.” Rockstar parent Take-Two said exactly the same thing today—development is still “well underway”—and added that the game is going to be really good, too.
“With development of the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series well underway, the Rockstar Games team is determined to once again set creative benchmarks for the series, our industry, and for all entertainment, just as the label has done with every one of their frontline releases,” said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick during today’s financial update.
Back in February, Rockstar said that its goal with GTA 6 was to “significantly move beyond” its previous achievements. Take-Two’s comment about setting creative benchmarks is a little bolder. At first I thought, “Well, yeah, the GTA games are obviously significant cultural events,” but the more I considered it, the more I wondered what a creative benchmark was, and if GTA had really ever set any “for all entertainment.” It has set the creative benchmark for doing a Guy Ritchie-ish thing as an open world videogame, for sure.
It’s probably not worth overanalyzing, but that’s all that was said, I’m afraid. The meager comment was perhaps just a way to preempt questions and settle things down following the recent Bloomberg report which claimed to have a few details about GTA 6, namely that it will include a female protagonist and take place in a fictionalized Miami. Rockstar hasn’t confirmed or denied the accuracy of that report.
Bloomberg also said that GTA 6’s scope had to be “reeled in” at some point, but that it’ll be updated with “new missions and cities on a regular basis,” so after release it may move back toward its pre-reeling-in scale. Even at launch, though, the publication says that GTA 6 will include more interior locations than any previous GTA.
The Bloomberg report also describes a Rockstar that has become a better, if not flawless, place to work in recent times—you can find the full article here (opens in new tab).
We don’t know when GTA 6 will be out, but the two “well underway” comments at least put it closer to us than The Elder Scrolls 6, which was still in “pre-production” as of June.