Bloomberg: Rockstar Games Reveals Development Secrets in Major Interview

Rockstar Games has provided an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the development of Grand Theft Auto VI, revealing new gameplay details, the challenges behind its creation, the reasons for its delays and what the future holds for the company.

In a major feature published by Bloomberg Businessweek, journalist Jason Schreier visited Rockstar North's Edinburgh headquarters and interviewed several senior executives, including heads of development Rob Nelson, Aaron Garbut and Phil Hooker, head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe and senior vice president for technology Jonathon Ashcroft.

The interviews offer a rare insight into the development of GTA 6, which has involved thousands of employees, significant technological advancements and several major changes to Rockstar's working practices.

GTA 6 Development Began in 2015 as Project Americas

Early planning for GTA 6 began in 2015, when Rockstar employees travelled to Miami to research the game's setting.

Originally known internally as Project Americas, the game was initially envisioned as a much larger experience featuring substantial areas of North and South America. Rockstar eventually scaled back those plans to concentrate on Vice City and its surrounding regions.

The company had originally hoped to develop GTA 6 alongside Red Dead Redemption 2, but the latter's increasing ambition required additional resources. Rockstar consequently shifted towards having its international studios collaborate on a single major project.

Following Red Dead Redemption 2's release in 2018 and the subsequent departure of co-founder Dan Houser, development leadership was shared between Nelson, Garbut and Hooker.

By late 2019, the broad foundations of Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos' story were established, although Rockstar was still struggling to determine exactly how its ambitious new game should work.

The COVID-19 pandemic complicated development further, disrupting communication, performance capture and production across the company's expanding workforce.

Some employees reportedly became frustrated with slow decision-making and the game's uncertain direction, while experienced developers left the company.

By 2022, however, enough individual gameplay systems had been completed for Rockstar to begin seeing its vision come together.

New Details About Jason and Lucia's Relationship

One of the most interesting revelations concerns how Jason and Lucia can interact dynamically throughout the open world, rather than exclusively during scripted missions.

Rockstar wanted the two protagonists to behave like a genuine couple, allowing them to spend time together and participate in everyday activities.

Bloomberg describes an example in which the player, controlling Jason, sends Lucia a text message asking to meet.

They subsequently meet at a park, hold hands and reminisce about an occasion when Lucia's mother became angry with Jason.

The couple can then visit a gym together, where Lucia uses a treadmill while Jason performs squats.

Their activities can also take a criminal turn. Jason and Lucia can rob a convenience store together, attract police attention and attempt to escape while continuing to flirt and exchange dialogue.

Creating these interactions required substantial development work, particularly because the systems needed to accommodate two protagonists rather than one.

Rockstar considers the relationship central to GTA 6's identity, with the developers determined to make it feel natural throughout the experience.

Finding the Balance Between Realism and Fun

Rockstar has spent considerable time deciding how much realism should be incorporated into GTA 6.

The developers considered whether buying beer should involve physically removing a bottle from a refrigerator, carrying it to the checkout and paying for it.

They also discussed whether preparing food in an apartment should require purchasing individual ingredients beforehand.

While increasingly realistic graphics make traditional video game shortcuts more noticeable, Rockstar recognised that excessive realism could make ordinary activities unnecessarily tedious.

The studio therefore focused on finding a balance between believable environments and enjoyable gameplay.

To recreate South Florida, employees conducted extensive research trips to Miami, including accompanying police officers, photographing the city from helicopters and visiting nightclubs.

Aaron Garbut explained that creating convincing environments involves far more than their visual appearance. Nightclubs, for example, require individually animated visitors, appropriate behaviour, music, lighting and numerous other details working together.

Rockstar also established a dedicated production operation in Los Angeles after discovering that its existing resources were insufficient to create the enormous number of non-playable characters planned for GTA 6.

The new operation brought together writers, producers and directors specifically responsible for NPC content.

A Two-Hour GTA 6 Gameplay Session Without Completing a Mission

Another fascinating revelation involves an internal gameplay session described by Phil Hooker.

While testing GTA 6, Hooker intended to travel to a story mission but became distracted by a series of spontaneous encounters.

After accidentally colliding with another vehicle, the opposing driver deliberately rammed his car and began shouting at him.

With his character running low on health, Hooker headed towards a convenience store to purchase restorative items.

Along the way, a pedestrian insulted him, resulting in another confrontation.

When he finally reached the store, nobody was attending the register, prompting him to rob it instead.

Police subsequently pursued him, forcing him to escape and abandon his vehicle.

While looking for another car, Hooker discovered a valuable vehicle he wanted to steal and sell. However, another driver playing loud music almost collided with him, leading Hooker to follow the vehicle.

This eventually brought him to a compound containing valuables, which he stole before visiting a criminal contact who could purchase the stolen goods.

The contact then provided another lead for an activity elsewhere in the world.

Approximately two hours had passed without Hooker making any meaningful progress towards his original mission.

For Rockstar, the experience demonstrated how GTA 6's interconnected gameplay systems could generate lengthy, unscripted adventures through seemingly ordinary interactions.

GTA 6's Leaks and Development Challenges

The article also discusses the devastating September 2022 security breach, which resulted in dozens of unfinished GTA 6 gameplay videos appearing online.

The attacker reportedly gained access to Rockstar's internal Slack environment through phishing, exposing incomplete footage and development material.

Aaron Garbut described the emotional impact of having unfinished creative work released publicly.

"It's like they're inside your head."

Rockstar subsequently introduced stricter security measures, including requiring employees to return to their offices five days per week and restricting remote access to development systems.

However, another significant leak reportedly occurred in August 2026, shortly before GTA 6's extended Netflix presentation, raising questions among employees about the effectiveness of those restrictions.

Jennifer Kolbe indicated that Rockstar intends to reconsider its office attendance policy following GTA 6's release, although a conventional hybrid arrangement remains unlikely.

Rockstar Has Nearly Doubled Its Workforce

Rockstar has expanded dramatically since Red Dead Redemption 2.

The company employed 2,441 people in 2018, compared with 4,711 employees as of August 2026, spread across 12 international offices.

The enormous investment has contributed to speculation about GTA 6's development budget, which Bloomberg suggests may exceed $1 billion.

However, Kolbe rejected widely circulated claims that development had cost more than $1.5 billion. Rockstar has not officially disclosed the game's budget.

The company has also attempted to improve working conditions following criticism of extensive overtime during Red Dead Redemption 2's development.

Kolbe said Rockstar's leadership committed to avoiding another prolonged period of crunch.

"We're not going to finish this game by crunching."

Additional staff, improved scheduling and new overtime arrangements were introduced, although Kolbe acknowledged that some employees had still experienced crunch during development.

The report also revisits the dismissal of 34 Rockstar employees in 2025, many of whom had participated in unionisation efforts.

The workers accused Rockstar of union busting, while the company maintained that the dismissals involved unauthorised disclosure of confidential information through Discord.

A legal dispute is ongoing, with an employment tribunal decision expected towards the end of October.

Unionisation efforts have continued, and Kolbe indicated that Rockstar would accept union representation if employees wanted it.

"So if they want a union, they will have a union."

Why GTA 6 Was Delayed Twice

GTA 6 was originally scheduled for 2025 before being delayed to May 2026 and subsequently November 19, 2026.

According to Bloomberg, Rockstar's developers concluded that additional time was necessary to achieve the desired quality, rather than identifying one major problem responsible for the delays.

Kolbe was responsible for communicating both decisions to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

When she informed him that the game needed to be delayed for a second time, Zelnick was reportedly astonished.

"You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."

He ultimately accepted the decision after discussing the development team's reasoning.

The game's numerous interconnected systems, extensive NPC production requirements and continuing creative changes all contributed to the extended development schedule.

Rockstar's leadership stressed that the additional time was necessary to deliver the experience the company had envisioned.

Meanwhile, the game's trailers played an important role in communicating that vision internally.

Jonathon Ashcroft explained that with thousands of developers working on different components, trailers helped employees understand how their contributions fitted into the overall experience.

"The trailers are huge guiding lights for us."

GTA 6 Could Generate $3 Billion in Four Months

Commercial expectations for GTA 6 remain extraordinary.

With GTA V having sold approximately 230 million copies, analysts cited by Bloomberg expect GTA 6 to sell around 40 million copies across PlayStation and Xbox within its first four months.

That could generate more than $3 billion in revenue, although these figures are industry projections rather than official Rockstar forecasts.

Bloomberg also estimates that the existing GTA Online generates approximately $500 million annually.

GTA 6's online component is reportedly expected in 2027, although Rockstar declined to discuss its plans.

During Bloomberg's visit to Rockstar North in late September, developers were concentrating on eliminating bugs and preparing the game for launch.

The Edinburgh headquarters, located in the former offices of The Scotsman newspaper, features large GTA 6 character displays and development progress screens.

The report describes employees working towards the November deadline while the studio continues to attract attention from fans hoping to uncover information about the game.

Rockstar Hopes Future Games Won't Take Another Eight Years

Perhaps one of the most encouraging revelations concerns Rockstar's expectations for future projects.

The company believes the enormous investment in GTA 6's technology, development tools and production infrastructure will make subsequent games considerably easier to create.

Rather than repeatedly rebuilding major systems from scratch, future projects could build upon the foundations established by GTA 6.

Rockstar's leadership referenced the development of GTA: Vice City, which was completed in less than a year by building upon the technology created for GTA III.

Although no future projects or release schedules have been announced, the executives expressed confidence that subsequent games would not require another eight-year development cycle.

Aaron Garbut reflected on how Rockstar's accumulated experience has contributed to GTA 6.

"The last 30 years has been practice for where we got to here."

After years of technological challenges, internal changes, security breaches and delays, Rockstar believes GTA 6 represents the culmination of decades of experience.

The new details about Jason and Lucia's relationship, the game's sophisticated NPC systems and its ability to generate unpredictable open-world experiences provide further insight into the scale of the studio's ambitions.

Source

Bloomberg Businessweek – Jason Schreier, October 14, 2026.