Summary of Bloomberg’s GTA VI report

How GTA VI Was Made: Key Takeaways from Jason Schreier’s Bloomberg Report

Jason Schreier’s new Bloomberg report offers one of the deepest looks yet at GTA VI’s development, explaining why the game took so long, how Rockstar changed internally, and what players can expect from its world and story.

Here are the biggest takeaways:

• More than eight years in development: GTA VI went through multiple delays and years of uncertainty. Rockstar also grew massively, from around 2,400 employees when Red Dead Redemption 2 launched to more than 4,700 across 12 offices.
• Project Americas was originally much bigger: Early plans reportedly included large parts of North and South America before Rockstar reduced the scope to Vice City and the surrounding region.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 delayed GTA VI: Rockstar initially hoped to develop both games at the same time, but RDR2 eventually required most of the company’s resources. GTA VI was delayed as a result, although it benefited from the technology and systems created for RDR2.
• Three people now lead development: Rob Nelson, Aaron Garbut and Phil Hooker took major leadership roles following departures such as Dan Houser. Some employees reportedly felt competing creative visions slowed development.
• Rockstar debated realism heavily: Developers spent time deciding how detailed everyday actions should be, including ideas such as manually buying drinks or shopping for individual ingredients. Not every idea necessarily made the final game.
• COVID caused major disruption: Performance capture stopped completely for a period, while rapid hiring and communication problems made development more difficult.
• Jason and Lucia can spend time together: One of the biggest technical challenges involved making the two protagonists function naturally together in the open world. They can reportedly meet up, hold hands, visit the gym, rob stores and escape police while talking to each other.
• Their relationship is central to the story: GTA VI is expected to combine GTA’s satire and chaos with some of the more emotional storytelling seen in Red Dead Redemption 2.
• Rockstar conducted extensive real-world research: Developers visited Miami, rode with police, photographed locations from the air and studied nightclubs in detail, including crowds, drinks, music and lighting.
• Rockstar created an entire team for NPCs: The company expanded its Los Angeles operation with writers, directors and producers focused specifically on creating background characters and making Leonida feel more alive.
• The open world is designed to distract you: During one test session, a small traffic accident reportedly escalated into fights, robbery, police pursuits and stolen cars. Two hours later, the developer still hadn’t reached the mission he originally planned to test.
• Delays came from many unfinished systems: Rockstar says there wasn’t one major problem behind the delays. Instead, multiple parts of the game simply needed more development time.
• November 19 appears to be the real target: Schreier stops short of guaranteeing the release date, but during his late-September visit, developers were primarily focused on bug fixing and polishing.
• Rockstar says crunch has improved: Better scheduling, additional hiring, time off and some extra compensation have reportedly improved working conditions, although management admits long hours haven’t disappeared completely.
• Remote work remains controversial: Rockstar currently requires employees to work from the office five days a week and blocks remote access to development tools for security reasons.
• Leaks have hurt morale: Developers described both the massive 2022 leak and the newer 2026 leaks as frustrating and invasive, especially after Rockstar introduced stricter security measures.
• The budget is still unknown: Rockstar rejected claims that GTA VI cost more than $1.5 billion, but Schreier believes it is almost certainly the most expensive video game ever made. No official figure has been revealed.
• Expectations are enormous: Some analysts predict around 40 million copies sold and more than $3 billion in revenue during the first four months, although these are only forecasts.
• GTA VI Online is expected in 2027: Bloomberg reports that the online component is planned for next year, but Rockstar has not officially announced a release date.
• Rockstar hopes its next game arrives faster: The technology, tools and development pipeline created for GTA VI should make future games easier to produce. Leadership says the next Rockstar release should not require another eight-year development cycle.