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A video game developer with 20 years experience at Rockstar Games working on the Grand Theft Auto series has issued a warning to fans who are counting down the days until the release of GTA VI, suggesting "people might be a little disappointed."
Rockstar Games has been hard at work on the follow-up to Grand Theft Auto V — the biggest-selling entertainment product in history, with $6 billion in revenue to its name since launch — for over a decade now.
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That drawn-out development cycle is the opposite approach to most of the other chart-topping game series, like Call of Duty, EA Sports FC, and Pokémon, which typically launch new entries every year.
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As a result, there is now feverish anticipation for the next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise — resulting in widespread panic that a fresh round of Hollywood strikes could cause delays to the title, which will only be playable for roughly 50% of all PlayStation fans.
GTA 6, stylised as Grand Theft Auto VI, returns the action to the fictional city of Vice City, which is Rockstar Games' satirical version of Miami that featured in the 2002 GTA release of the same name ROCKSTAR GAMES But former Rockstar Games Technical Director Obbe Vermeij believes the 12-year wait between instalments means Grand Theft Auto VI will struggle to live up to lofty expectations after all of that time. In a new interview, the veteran developer says that fans should expect a pretty similar experience to Grand Theft Auto V and that hoping for too much of a change could lead to disappointment.
"I don’t think it’s going to be wildly different from GTA 5," he explained. "I think maybe people might be a little disappointed on the first day but it’s still going to be the best game out there."
Mr Vermeij no longer works at Rockstar Games, but was involved in the making of some of its biggest hits— he served as Technical Director on Grand Theft Auto 3, as well as GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV. The sixth entry in the series promises to return fans to Vice City.
Mr Vermeij was still employed at Rockstar Games, which has offices in New York City, Dundee, and Toronto, when it launched GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, but he doesn't appear in the credits for GTA V.
The ex-Rockstar Games employee claims to have no "inside information" on the development of Grand Theft Auto VI and has issued his warning about longtime fans being disappointed after watching the trailer and his experience working at the company over two decades. He explained: "It’s going to be a good game for sure."
During the interview, conducted by YouTube channel SanInPlay, Mr Vermeij doesn't clarify his comments about the new title not departing from Grand Theft Auto V, but presumably, he's referring to the general plotlines, mission structure, and levels of violence. A new online mode, similar to the one that debuted with GTA V is also in the works at the company, whispers from within Rockstar Games suggest — another similarity.
It's unclear when exactly the sixth mainline entry in the Grand Theft Auto series will launch. Take-Two Interactive has narrowed the previous release window of next year to a more specific — but still frustratingly vague — timeframe of "fall 2025". Provided nothing changes between now and then, it means Grand Theft Auto fans will have waited 12 years between instalments.
"As we enter Fiscal 2025 with positive momentum, we expect to deliver Net Bookings of $5.55 to $5.65 billion," the earnings report states. "Our outlook reflects a narrowing of Rockstar Games’ previously established window of Calendar 2025 to Fall of Calendar 2025 for Grand Theft Auto VI.
"We are highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience, and our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase."
Grand Theft Auto V first launched 11 years ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Since then, the popular title has appeared on another two console generations, with an upgraded version of the decade-old video game launching on the latest consoles from Xbox and Sony in early 2022
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Grand Theft Auto V has now appeared on three console generations, starting with the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 back in September 2013.
An upgraded version of the game launched on the latest crop of video game consoles, Xbox Series X|S and Sony PS5, in March 2022 with support for 4K Ultra HD visuals, ray-tracing, 60 frames-per-second, and 3D audio. The continued popularity of the game is partly attributed to GTA Online.
Experts believe the next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise could break its own record sales numbers. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, still holds the crown for the best opening week of sales in video game history — raking in $1.15bn (£1.2bn) in five days. It has gone on to become the second biggest game of all-time, although it's still 100 million copies behind the Gold Medalist, Minecraft.
But many like Dmitri Williams, a video game business expert and professor at University of Southern California, expect the long-awaited follow-up to perform even better. He said: "The brand is as strong or stronger than it was before, but additionally the game industry is larger. If it maintains the same slice of the pie, it's going to be big, because it will come from a bigger pie.
"The games industry is simply massive globally, and is no single genre or platform. It's so large and so varied that even fractions of it are larger than whole parallel industries like movies.”
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Sony is tipped to capitalise on the excitement around the next Rockstar Games title by launching an improved PlayStation 5 console with upgraded graphics and a tweaked case design.
The next instalment of the popular Grand Theft Auto series will take gamers back to Vice City, which last appeared in 2006's Vice City Stories. Rockstar Games has already confirmed the franchise will use a female protagonist for the first time since 2000, known as Lucia.
Little is known about the plot of the satirical action-adventure game, but it's widely expected to mirror the misadventures of Bonnie and Clyde across a fictional US State that spoofs on Florida, dubbed Leonida.