Per Jason Schreier, a few Rockstar artists have worked on the GTA 6 map since 2015, starting with scouting trips to Miami, long before full production.
Sources techradar.com
How long has Rockstar been on GTA 6? Longer than the usual story suggests. In a follow-up video to his article, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier says some artists have worked on it for over eleven years, reports TechRadar.
The common account puts full production around 2018. Schreier says, per TechRadar, that pre-production began much earlier: in 2015 Rockstar started visiting Miami and working on the map, "always the first thing" the studio does on these big open worlds. He says he learned this while talking to the Rockstar North team during his visit.
He adds that leadership then moved almost everyone onto Red Dead Redemption 2, which needed help because of its ambitious systems, while a few artists kept working on the GTA 6 map. It builds on what we noted in our piece on narrower roads and the weapon wheel.
TechRadar also relays a remark from Aaron Garbut, art director and co-head of Rockstar North: GTA 6's roads are "significantly narrower" than GTA V's. The choice aimed at a more realistic city and denser traffic from the start, but it created "ripple effects": tighter streets need more surrounding buildings, so more work for artists. Garbut puts it this way: "All these things sort of come [back] to bite you later."
Read also GTA 6: narrower roads, a weapon wheel Rockstar tried to ditch, and freedom to add details
The outlet notes the map is twice the size of GTA V's and meant to be denser and more interactive. The trailers already show tight streets around Vice City; see the release page.
The eleven years come from Schreier's account of what he heard, not from a Rockstar statement. How many artists, on which areas and for how long is not specified, and "since 2015" describes preparation, not full-speed development.
It puts the November 19 date in perspective: it closes a project that began before Red Dead Redemption 2 and before today's consoles. It is also a reason to look closely at the map on day one, since part of it was drawn over a decade ago.
Sources techradar.com
By Lara Rivolet · GTAVIFRANCE newsroom
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