Grand Theft Auto 6 ‘is Rockstar’s next game’

Grand Theft Auto 6 is still early in development, according to a new report into working practices at creator Rockstar Games.

Kotaku spoke to 15 people who either work at the developer or left within the last year as part of an investigation into how Rockstar is improving its culture following reports of significant crunch at the studio—and it came away with some interesting information regarding Grand Theft Auto 6.

According to the report, management’s efforts to reduce employee stress and crunch could see Rockstar release a moderately sized GTA 6 at launch and then regularly expand the game over time.

The article’s author, Jason Schreier, also tweeted: “The next GTA is still a ways away, so it’ll be a while before we see whether the company’s attempts to mitigate crunch are really successful, but in the last year Rockstar has made several quality-of-life improvements and replaced managers that staff described as toxic.”

Originally released for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013 before launching for current-gen consoles and PC, Grand Theft Auto V is reportedly the highest-grossing media title of all time, having brought in over $6 billion.

Rockstar parent company Take-Two said in February that the game has shipped over 120 million copies, while the studio’s follow-up title, Red Dead Redemption 2, has shipped 29 million copies since its original release in October 2018.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser left the company in March, while GTA studio Rockstar North has been ramping up to fill multiple positions for work on next-gen projects in recent months.