Rockstar Games Cut “Entire Levels” and “Fully Finished Minigames” From GTA 5

While fans around the world are desperately waiting for GTA 6 news, former Rockstar Games producer John Ricchio appeared on the "Kiwi Talkz" podcast, where GTA 5 came up as one of the main topics. He revealed the developers had to cut a bunch of content from the game, including "entire levels," numerous mini-games, and more.

According to Ricchio, Rockstar Games had to cut planned content for two main reasons. The core development team was focused on polishing the game, and adding more content risked yet another delay. He also revealed that part of the team had genuinely burnt out working on that content, and as a result, it couldn't meet the level of polish Rockstar Games demanded. You can check out more from Ricchio on the cut GTA 5 content below:

“There was so much stuff in GTA, particularly in GTA 5. Oh my god, there was so much stuff that was done. Like minigames that were completely done and ready to go, except for, like, animation, right?

The cuts were necessary because the animation team were getting destroyed, and there was so much animation work to do to bring everything to the same level. GTA V was already packing 60 random encounters, 20 Strangers and Freaks missions with further arcs, and nearly 42 minigames, and was practically huge at that point.

We had to cut stuff that was otherwise completely done. Rockstar had to throw out entire levels and they’ll throw out entire things because they don’t have enough resources to get everything to the same level. Minigames weren’t like they went into DLC or anything… They just disappeared. Every decision can’t be made by everyone.”

In the same interview, Ricchio claimed he thinks GTA 6 will be "monstrous" in terms of detail and also explained why Rockstar Games releases console versions of its games first, with PC versions following later. As for GTA 5 cut content, it's certainly a disappointment the game didn't turn out exactly as the developers originally planned—but it's worth remembering it was built specifically for that generation's consoles, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, where a lot of these ideas were technically hard to pull off. Some likely made their way into later releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and eventually PC—and many of them are very likely to appear in GTA 6 too.

You can also find out everything we know about GTA 6 so far—the story, gameplay, map, open world, platforms, and more - as well as how GTA 6 is reshaping the 2026 game calendar and everything about GTA 6 pre-order details: price, bonuses, exact time, and Ultimate Edition.

Grand Theft Auto VI will release on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.