Inside Rockstar North: How GTA 6 Was Made, From Miami to Launch

A week before launch, the Guardian's Keza MacDonald visited Rockstar North in Edinburgh and spoke with GTA 6 development lead Rob Nelson and Rockstar executive Jennifer KolbeReported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features3. 7mmo.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features. A separate Bloomberg feature on the making of the game added more, including Kolbe's answer on the budgetReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. It comes out on November 19Reported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.

Quick answers

GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was FakePlays from YouTube when you press play

Years of research in Miami

Rockstar's developers first travelled to Miami for GTA 6 research in 2015Reported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City5. TGG — GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was Fake6. aol.co.uk — How years of research built Grand Theft Auto VI’s obsessively detailed world. Rockstar starts each game by studying the real place before designing anything, and that research shapes the story, characters and experiencesReported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City.

The trips went well beyond sightseeing. The team rode along with police officers in South Beach and visited bars across the Florida KeysReported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features3. 7mmo.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 65. TGG — GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was Fake. They also did a driving session at a Florida racetrackReported2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features. Rockstar took the same approach for GTA 4, when developers went to places in New York they'd otherwise never have visitedReported6. aol.co.uk — How years of research built Grand Theft Auto VI’s obsessively detailed world.

Rob Nelson's job covers design, narrative, animation and parts of castingReported5. TGG — GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was Fake6. aol.co.uk — How years of research built Grand Theft Auto VI’s obsessively detailed world. The lead writer is Rupert Humphries, at Rockstar since 2008Reported5. TGG — GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was Fake6. aol.co.uk — How years of research built Grand Theft Auto VI’s obsessively detailed world. Our real Miami locations guide shows where that research ended up on the map.

The details MacDonald saw

MacDonald described the game as extremely detailed, from the architecture and geography down to pedestrians' clothes, street art, café flyers and the insides of fridgesReported2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features3. 7mmo.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features. In the demo:

• Jason eats a hot dogReported2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features and can hold a beer in one hand while eating a donut with the otherReported2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features.
• A six-pack of beer gets tucked into the crook of his arm when he runs, and the liquid sloshes in the bottlesReported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features3. 7mmo.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features5. TGG — GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was Fake. It's similar to a moment in Trailer 2Reported2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features.
• A jewelry store robbery, where Nelson objected to how a security guard's feet were placedReported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features3. 7mmo.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features. That's the level of detail the team works at.

Every patron in a club is individually animated and scriptedReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar even built an office in Los Angeles for the writers, producers and directors who create the NPCsReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Our NPC guide explains how the crowds work.

Nelson also said Rockstar hasn't completely ruled out a future GTA outside the United States, but there's still plenty to explore in AmericaReported5. TGG — GTA 6: NEW Gameplay Looks So Realistic That Everyone Thought it Was Fake6. aol.co.uk — How years of research built Grand Theft Auto VI’s obsessively detailed world.

How GTA 6 was made, according to Bloomberg

Bloomberg's feature fills in the history:

• The original plan was bigger. The code name was Project Americas, and the idea was land across North and South America, later narrowed down to MiamiReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 came first. Rockstar pulled most of its staff onto RDR2, which pushed GTA 6 back several yearsReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Afterwards, Dan Houser and several other top staff leftReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.
• Three leads. Rob Nelson, Phil Hooker and Aaron Garbut all got the title head of developmentReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.
• A much bigger company. Rockstar now has 4,711 employees across 12 offices, up from 2,441 when RDR2 came outReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.
• Leaks. A hacker got into Rockstar's Slack in September 2022 and released dozens of unfinished videosReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Another big leak came in August 2026, just before the Netflix previewReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.
• Back to the office. By 2024, everyone had to work from the office five days a week, and GTA 6 developers couldn't use company tools remotelyReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar will look at that policy again after launch, but Kolbe doubts it will go hybridReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.

The game took more than eight years and was delayed twice, first to May 2026 and then to November 2026Reported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Our delays timeline has every date.

Budget, Online and the union

Budget. Rockstar hasn't revealed what GTA 6 cost, but Kolbe denied the rumor that it went over $1.5 billionReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6.

Online. GTA 6's online part is expected in 2027, and Rockstar hasn't talked about it yetReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. GTA Online still makes an estimated half a billion dollars a yearReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar's leaders see GTA 6 as a foundation for releasing new content fasterSpeculation4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. See our GTA 6 Online guide.

The union. Bloomberg also covers the dispute over the 34 employees Rockstar fired, most of whom were trying to form a unionReported4. bloomberg.com — Inside the Making of Grand Theft Auto 6. Our union story has the latest.

We'll add more from the full Guardian feature when it's published on November 14Reported1. notebookcheck.net — GTA 6: Guardian preview offers a look at the making of Vice City2. rockstarintel.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features3. 7mmo.com — New GTA VI Interview Reveals More Gameplay Features.