GTA 6 might be the most anticipated game in the world right now. After the tectonic success of Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online – as well as Red Dead Redemption 2 – we’re all incredibly eager to see what Rockstar does next, as it potentially heads back to Vice City for its next sandbox crime caper. Speaking exclusively to PCGamesN, one former Rockstar developer whose credits include the original Red Dead Redemption and both GTA Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, hopes that GTA 6 will feature a “smaller but more densely packed location” than some of its predecessors.
The GTA 6 release date is coming – Rockstar has confirmed the next sandbox game is in production, and with the lack of new material for Red Dead Redemption 2, seemingly shifted a lot of its efforts towards the new Grand Theft Auto. GTA 5, meanwhile, is still being updated, becoming the biggest game in the entire series. Speaking exclusively to PCGamesN, a former Rockstar developer shares hopes for GTA 6.
“In terms of what I’m hoping for, I personally would like it to bring in a little bit in terms of size of the world,” Ant Workshop’s Tony Gowland, whose credits include Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, Chinatown Wars, and the first Red Dead Redemption, says. “I think a smaller but more densely packed location would maybe bring back some of that memorable navigation that I loved from the original.
“The only footage I’ve seen is a couple of bits of the leaked stuff, and I stopped watching pretty quickly. I found that really heartbreaking for the team, to have all their hard work first shown to the world in such a janky and unfinished state, and I’d much rather wait for an official trailer to get really hyped.”
Despite an age rating for GTA 6 recently appearing on the Australian classifications board, PCGamesN has been able to confirm it was not submitted by Rockstar, and was in fact a fake. Nevertheless, a GTA 6 Metacritic page has recently appeared, at the same time as Ned Luke, the actor behind Grand Theft Auto 5’s Michael De Santa, shares a potential tease.
GTA 6 will reportedly take place in a modernized, re-imagined version of the Miami-inspired Vice City. Having worked on Vice City Stories, Gowland explains why it makes for such an iconic location.
“It’s funny isn’t it?” Gowland says. “When we were wrapping up Liberty City Stories there was a real excitement in the team that ‘yes, next we get to play in Vice City!’ Personally, I think there are two things at play there. Firstly, the ‘80s is a super-evocative era that when the game was released was a lot of players’ childhoods. There are huge amounts of films and TV that are firmly rooted in the 80’s culture and vibe, and the Rockstar North and New Year teams did a fantastic job of bringing that all into the game.
“Secondly, I think the city just works really well and is that perfect size of open-world cities that we’ve gone way beyond these days, where you could learn it all off by hand. Honestly I think even now if you dropped me at any random spot in Vice City and tasked me with going to a particular location, I’d be able to fully ‘The Knowledge’ my way there efficiently.”
Mixing spooky vibes, Halloween horror, and golf, Gowland has just launched a new game which you read all about right here.
“After Rockstar, and working at Activision for a bit on Call of Duty, I really wanted to get back into making things that are smaller and sillier,” Gowland says.
Meanwhile, if you’re still loving life in Los Santos, get the best GTA 5 mods to make the whole city feel new again. Alternatively, jump onto the best GTA RP servers where you can cause all different kinds of chaos.