Rockstar Games doesn’t plan to censor satire in Grand Theft Auto 6, but is opting for timeless humor, avoiding quickly dated memes and short-term politics. Thirteen years after the release of GTA 5, the studio faces the challenge of years of production: a joke that’s relevant at the start of development risks becoming stale by the time the game launches. Rob Nelson, co-head of Rockstar North, discussed this with IGN reporters.
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Why the satire in GTA 6 will be more restrained and timeless
Development of modern open-world action games takes years, so the studio simply can’t instantly respond to every news event. Nelson suggests that humor should address more fundamental societal flaws rather than specific news headlines.
The writers carefully monitor even the characters’ dialogue:
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Avoiding trends: characters will avoid actively using new slang, so the dialogue system won’t look ridiculous in a couple of years.
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Deep context: global phenomena of human nature that remain relevant for decades are addressed.
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Priority of location: satire doesn’t serve as a foundation—the team first chooses a location and then populates it with suitable absurdity.
Jason, Lucia, and the State of Leonidas Setting
Exterior filming and the team’s trips to Miami became the basis for recreating Vice City and the State of Leonidas, inspired by Florida. It was the local flavor that defined the main characters and their surroundings.
Jason and Lucia received a well-developed background, but the writers deliberately don’t dump all the lore details at once, leaving room for players to draw their own conclusions. The developers’ main goal is to establish a strong emotional connection between the player and the criminal duo by synchronizing their behavior in story-driven cutscenes and during free exploration of the open world.
