New GTA 6 Details Revealed by Jason Schreier - Game's Budget, Cut Features, and More

Jason Schreier, the well-known Bloomberg journalist, has published his new article about GTA 6, as announced earlier. It covers lots of details about the most anticipated game of 2026, which releases in just one month.

The article mostly focuses on how GTA 6’s development has changed over time, what the internal atmosphere at Rockstar has been like over the years, and some plans for after launch. You can check out the main highlights from the report below:

• At first, GTA 6 was developed alongside Red Dead Redemption 2, but the Wild West game kept growing more ambitious, and more and more campaign staff moved over to it. The studio has since changed its approach and no longer works on several projects at once. It now focuses on one game at a time.
• Full-scale development of GTA 6 has lasted more than 8 years, and 4,711 employees are currently working on it.
• Rockstar has denied that the game’s budget is $1.5 billion, but it isn’t ready to share any figures.
• Development went through a “dark period” when the team couldn’t agree on what the game should be. The disagreements were mostly about the level of realism and certain gameplay and design decisions.
• The team originally planned to include areas inspired by North and South America.
• The biggest challenge was finding a natural way for Jason and Lucia to spend time together in the open world. In gameplay terms, their relationship includes text messages, meetups, holding hands, going to the gym, heists, constant conversations, and more.
• The delays came from interconnected gameplay systems, NPC development, and the complexity of the open world.
• Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was surprised by the delay to November 19 but supported Rockstar’s decision. In September, the team focused on fixing bugs and polishing the game.
• Working conditions are now better than during Red Dead Redemption 2, when some employees worked about 60 hours a week for months.
• Office staff now work five days a week. Remote work may return after GTA 6 launches.
• The 2022 leaks demoralized the team, while this year’s leaks caused frustration, since they happened despite stricter security.
• According to analysts, GTA 6 could sell 40 million copies and earn over $3 billion in its first four months.
• GTA 6 multiplayer is expected to launch in 2027.
• Rockstar’s next game won’t take as long to develop.

This information gives us a lot to think about, and it also lines up with earlier rumors. Rockstar could actually release L.A. Noire 2 in 2030, as reported before, since its future games won’t have such long gaps between releases. We’re also hearing again that GTA 6 multiplayer is coming in 2027. Hopefully more news, such as a new trailer, will follow soon.

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