'GTA 6' Won't Be As Edgy As Previous Games, Rockstar Co-Founder Believes

Jamie King, one of the founders of Rockstar Games alongside Sam Houser, Dan Houser and Terry Donovan, has shared his thoughts on how the Grand Theft Auto games will change owing to the different directions that the studio has taken in recent years. 

After all of the clamouring for modern remasters of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas, it’s a shame that the Definitive Edition left a lot to be desired. Rockstar Games is addressing the numerous issues in the trio of titles though they are racing against modders who’ve taken matters into their own hands. Still, amongst this torrent of annoyance from fans who hoped that the remasters would tide them over until the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, players reckon there is a nod to the next game in the photographs at the Lil Probe Inn. 

Check out a compilation of the very best wins and fails in Grand Theft Auto V!

It’s tough to tell when we’ll get our first glimpse at the next game in the classic series or what it will look like. Whispers on the wind say that it will return to Vice City, either in the present day or in the ‘80s, and that it will feature its first female protagonist. One notorious industry insider expects that Grand Theft Auto VI will arrive in 2025, which was surprising, before we got a scoop that the development of the game has been a shambles. 

Well, while we add these tidbits to the pile of what we do and don’t know about the future of Grand Theft Auto, an interview with one of the founders of Rockstar Games might offer some more concrete insight to the next entry. In an interview with Killaz, a Grand Theft Auto-centric YouTube channel, Jamie King shed a little light on what he imagines the next game to be like in terms of tone. 

“It's the same engine, right, that I worked on when I was there, the core of it. It’s the same content,” said King of the plausible experience of playing the new game. “They’ve really perfected the systems so I’d be surprised if, like, gameplay mechanics really got affected.” King also added that the support that Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online lends the studio means that the teams aren’t in a rush to reveal the next game. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the tone starts changing, and if it’s maybe not quite as edgy or quite as funny. I just think that maybe there’s more opportunity for them to do something cheesy because they never do,” continued King. “And maybe not, right? Again, there’s a beautiful machine there that you’d have to try really hard to f*ck up. I just look at the success of [Grand Theft Auto] V Online, and [Red Dead] Redemption 2, and I’m like, ‘They’re just gonna be fine, period.’ But, you know, I think culturally, internally, both at North and New York missing Leslie and Dan, yeah there’s a difference for sure.”

Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies and writer and producer Dan Houser left in 2014 and 2020, respectively. Recently, Houser has started his own studio called Absurd Ventures in Games, though we aren’t too sure what the company comprises.

Topics: Grand Theft Auto, GTA 6, Rockstar Games