Rockstar focuses on better working conditions and a female main character for "GTA 6
For the first time in the history of "GTA", a woman is to play the leading role in the sixth part. There have obviously been some changes within Rockstar as well.
"GTA 5" continues to flush money into Rockstar's coffers. With 165 million copies sold and a flourishing online mode, the fifth part of the open-world action series is the best-selling game of all time after "Minecraft". The successor has long been in development. Now Bloomberg provides new exciting details.
According to industry insider Jason Schreier, "GTA 6" will be set in a fictional version of Miami and the surrounding area. GTA Vice City" was already set in this region, albeit in the 80s. New cities are to be added after the release. Originally, large parts of North and South America were to be included from the beginning - hence the working title Project Americas. This idea was scrapped again to avoid overtime marathons. But not only will the world be huge again, according to Schreier, the interiors will also receive more attention.
As in "GTA V", you will be able to play several characters. Rockstar has found inspiration in the gangster duo Bonnie and Clyde. For the first time, one of the two main characters will be a woman - a Latina, to be precise.
Nothing else is known about the content. Nor whether we can expect another biting social critique. Several employees pointed out that today's America cannot really be satirised because it is already a satire on itself.
Rockstar cleans up
Rockstar is not only considered one of the most successful game studios in the world, but also one with a particularly bad work culture. Alcohol excesses, fights and trips to strip clubs were reportedly just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, there were hundreds of hours of overtime, also known as crunches. Employees reported months of death marches with mandatory 14-hour days including weekends.
This is now said to have changed. Since 2018, Rockstar has taken numerous measures, Schreier said. These include additional producers, changes to schedules, converting contractors to full-time employees, removing errant employees, new mental health and leave measures, and more flexible scheduling.
Source: DICE Summit
According to Schreier, the working atmosphere has improved significantly. Another sign that Rockstar has changed from "a boys club into a real company", as one employee quoted, is the reaction to the murder of George Floyd. At the time, Rockstar wanted to release a new "GTA Online" mode called "Cops 'n' Crooks", but then decided against it. In it, players would have split into teams of "good guys" and "bad guys", in the style of a children's game. Due to police violence in the USA, Rockstar decided to discontinue the mode.
Transphobic jokes were also removed from the latest console version.
The downside of the restructuring is that development is not proceeding at the pace originally planned. The pandemic is also playing its part. Nevertheless, analysts expect a release by March 2024 at the latest. Internally, however, this is highly doubted, according to Schreier.
Being the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.