According to Edge, as relayed by big-n.fr, Rockstar created around 600,000 animations and personality traits for Leonida's residents. Their reactions depend on temperament, location and how the player behaves.
Sources big-n.fr · dlgaming.fr
Around 600,000 animations for non-player characters: that is the figure big-n.fr takes from Edge's GTA 6 feature. The magazine watched Rockstar North run the game in a demo of about 90 minutes, and what it reports about Leonida's residents stands out. The number comes from press coverage, not from a Rockstar statement.
According to big-n.fr, which summarises Edge's preview, the studio set up a Los Angeles team of writers, directors and producers solely to give NPCs an identity. The aim is to avoid an interchangeable crowd: each passer-by gets gestures and reactions of their own. The piece adds that the workload briefly sent the team into a "horrifying spiral", which explains the dedicated unit.
I read the figure with caution. An animation is not a behaviour: 600,000 clips say nothing about how many distinct characters the player will meet, or how often the same scene will repeat. Rockstar has not published a detailed count.
Per the same report, NPCs carry personality traits: temperament, aggression, where they are, what they have seen and how the player has treated them. Rob Nelson, co-director of Rockstar North, frames it as questions: "Who's going to be aggressive? How many people will pull a weapon? How many will test me?" Leonida's neighbourhoods reportedly have their own "demographic and professional textures", so a residential area would not react like a business district.
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Two scenes described by Edge show the idea. In the first, a dog walker takes the protagonist's look as a provocation, unleashes the dog, which chases the player before returning to its owner, while a flock of pigeons takes off. In the second, two officers cuff a suspect and leave their cars unattended; Rob Nelson opens the trunk of one, takes a shotgun and strolls away smoking a cigarette.
These moments echo the South Park clip, where a passer-by and a dog also turn into a confrontation. According to DL Gaming, the demo was played by Rob Nelson without a pre-written script.
None of these scenes was filmed outside Edge's session, and all we have is the journalist's account. It is unclear how this variety will hold up with millions of players, or on console at the November 19 launch. See also our coverage of the map and exploration; Leonida's wildlife, with more than 170 species, adds to the impression of a populated world. No PC version has been announced.
If the result matches the description, Leonida's streets are more than scenery: each encounter can go differently depending on who is standing there. It is a promise about systems, to be checked with a controller in hand. All release details are on our release page.
Sources big-n.fr · dlgaming.fr
Reported Reported by the press, not confirmed by Rockstar
By Daniel Jasner · GTAVIFRANCE newsroom
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