At long last, gamers have gotten something resembling an update about Rockstar’s next project. However, it may not be the sort of update which many were hoping for. Kotaku’s Jason Schreier recently published an extensive follow-up on his investigation into crunch and other internal culture problems at Rockstar. In the report, Shreier noted that Rockstar’s next project – presumably GTA 6 – is still only in the early stages of development.
Rockstar’s Internal Culture is Hopefully Improving
For quite some time, GTA fans have been clamouring for news about GTA 6. GTA Online remains incredibly successful, demonstrating that the franchise has a massive and consistently active audience. However, this new report may quash many recent theories and rumours; GTA 6 could actually still be years away from release.
Interestingly, this information may corroborate a recent prediction made by former Rockstar employee Darion Lowenstein, who currently advises investors about Take-Two’s stock. Lowenstein recently said that he doesn’t expect a GTA 6 release date before Holiday 2021 at the absolute earliest.
According to Schreier, Rockstar has made a range of positive steps to improving their internal culture and reducing the need for crunch. While the studio may not have solved everything yet, it does seem to be movement for the better. Unfortunately for fans hoping for news about GTA 6, the outlook isn’t quite so optimistic. “Rockstar’s next big project is still early in development,” writes Schreier; “When production ramps up and the game gets closer to launching, will overtime come with it? […] Let’s see what happens down the road when the pressures of delivering a final product become reality.”
What this heavily implies is that Rockstar is nowhere close to launching GTA 6 anytime soon. Schreier doesn’t mention GTA 6 by name, of course, so it’s worth noting that we can’t be sure that the project in question is that. However, if Rockstar’s next major project isn’t GTA 6, then that means that GTA 6 is even further off! Indeed, if GTA 6 is still only in the early stages of development, then it could easily be years before Rockstar even announces the game. Certainly, this report dashes any hopes that gamers may have had that GTA 6 news or announcements could be coming in the near future.