New details on Rockstar’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto installment Grand Theft Auto VI have been revealed via a new Bloomberg report by Jason Schreier. The report reveals that the game will include a playable female protagonist who is Latina and “will be one of a pair of leading characters in a story influenced by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde.” Additionally, the game is currently code-named Project Americas, and early plans were for it to be more vast than any Grand Theft Auto game to date. However, the company has reportedly cut those plans and has cut the main map down to a fictional version of Miami and its surrounding areas. Despite this, the game’s world is said to remain large, with more interior locations than any previous Grand Theft Auto game. According to Schreier, Rockstar’s plan is now to continually update the game over time, adding new missions and cities on a regular basis.
Lastly, the report also highlights new changes that Rockstar Games have incorporated in order to reinvent itself as a more progressive workplace. These changes include restructuring the design department to keep overtime under control, changes to scheduling, converting contractors to full-time employees, the ousting of several managers employees saw as abusive or difficult to work with, new mental health and leave benefits, a “flexitime” Policy that allows staff to immediately take time off for every extra hour worked, recently removing transphobic jokes from the most recent console release of Grand Theft Auto V and significantly narrowing its gender pay gap.
The important snippets of the report regarding Grand Theft Auto VI can be seen below:
Rockstar’s next game, Grand Theft Auto VI, will include a playable female protagonist for the first time, according to people familiar with the game. The woman, who is Latina, will be one of a pair of leading characters in a story influenced by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, the people said. Developers are also being cautious not to “punch down” by making jokes about marginalized groups, the people said, in contrast to previous games.
Sticking to that pledge has already prompted changes to the game. Original plans for the title, which is code-named Project Americas, were for it to be more vast than any Grand Theft Auto game to date. Early designs called for the inclusion of territories modeled after large swaths of North and South America, according to people familiar with the plans. But the company reeled in those ambitions and cut the main map down to a fictional version of Miami and its surrounding areas.
Rockstar’s plan is now to continually update the game over time, adding new missions and cities on a regular basis, which the leadership hopes will lead to less crunch during the game’s final months. Still, the game’s world remains large, with more interior locations than previous Grand Theft Auto games, impacting the timeline.
Stay tuned at Gaming Instincts via Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook for more gaming news.
