'GTA 6' Will Have "Very Different" Feel To Predecessor, With More "Cleaned Up" Tone

Yesterday sure was unexpected, huh? For years now, we’ve all joked about how long it took for Rockstar to even announce Grand Theft Auto VI, let alone provide any updates on its development and whilst yesterday’s new details may have come via a leak, I’m shocked nonetheless.

I hardly doubt you missed it but if you did, leaker Nibellion teased that GTA VI would have a playable female protagonist. It was also suggested that the game would release between April 2023 and March 2024, and is thought to be set in Vice City. Now, a brand new report is suggesting that GTA VI will also have a “cleaned up” tone.

This incredible fan modded version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, could give us a taste of what GTA VI might look like.

Jason Schreier of Bloomberg spoke to a number of Rockstar Games employees, who wish to remain anonymous, about the changes in the company’s tone and culture, and how that’s likely to affect the development of GTA VI.

Schreier notes that Rockstar began to assess its internal culture back in 2018, after employees stood up against crunch and mistreatment. Schreier notes that GTA Online’s cancelled ‘Cops ‘n’ Crooks’ update was a major turning point. The mode would’ve split players into the two respective teams but given that several high profile cases of police brutality were dominating news headlines at the time, Rockstar developers were forced to stand up and say, this isn’t right.

One employee told Schreier that once Rockstar began to review its work culture, “a boys’ club transformed into a real company.” Morale is now reportedly higher and it’s this “cleaned up” culture that Schreier suggests will lead to GTA VI’s “very different” tone. As the cancelled ‘Cops ‘n’ Crooks’ project perhaps hints, we can assume that developers will be considering how the contents of the game sits within wider political and social culture. Time will tell.