What will GTA 6 be like? - Analysis of all leaks and rumours

GTA is one of the few series whose new instalments cause a lot of hype and fuss. It happens even long before it hits the store shelves. Partially it is due to the Rockstar Games studio reputation.British developer has been releasing nominee-like productions for almost 2 decades now.

The entire setting of this cycle is also important – its consecutive parts made use of themes or subjects, which many other works in this industry just can’t afford to use. Violence, sex, tortures, and politics presented without any restrictions – in Grand Theft Auto you can find everything, quite often in the form of a cruel satire. As a result, this is an accurate comment to the reality that surrounds us. GTA is famous for being controversial, for mocking everything and everyone, and for being provocative. In addition, it simply is a very good series, in which it is hard to point out any mistakes, even if we may feel that the title might have gone a bit too far with some aspects. And, among other things, this is what makes this game loved by millions of payers around the world.

It is no different with yet another instalment of this series. Although GTA 6 has not been official announced, it appears regularly in our newsroom, always accompanied by words such as “rumours” or “leaks”. That is why let us have a look at everything what has been said about the next Rockstar Games project and what kind of details and information mysterious “anonymous sources” provided us.

Platforms: GTA 6 on PS4 or PS5?

Although we still do not know when GTA 6 will appear on the market, it is almost certain that we will be able to play this game on new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett. Rumours saying about that appeared several times this year. At first, we had a leak from Pastebin service that suggested that due to technological limitations (in particular in the scope of RAM memory), the Rockstar Games developers wouldn’t be able to complete their vision of the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This is why this title will be available solely on the newest generation consoles. 

The topic returned not that long time ago, because in October. After the official release and presentation of PlayStation 5, the anonymous European developer admitted that he worked on the AAA type of title that is being created on the newest Sony gaming platform. What is more, this person claimed to possess a wide range of information about the console and about the game on it. This man confirmed earlier reports, stating that GTA 6 will appear on the newest generation consoles. There is more – the Japanese supposedly put a lot of emphasis on making the next instalment of Rockstar Games gangster series exclusive for their platform – even if it would be exclusive only for a month.It is worth noting that the same person was the source of information regarding PS5 components –the details revealed in December 2018 turned out to be true. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that is also may be true. Of course, the premiere of the game on new consoles does not exclude the conversion for personal computers. It seems to be quite likely, although you will probably have to wait for it a little longer. 

Place of action – the east coast, or maybe… the whole United States?

There are many indications that the action of Grand Theft Auto VI will take place on the US east coast. Numerous sources suggest that we will receive the opportunity to explore several cities – the most often name that we see is Vice City (a fictional metropolis based on Miami that already appeared in GTA: Vice City in 2002) as well as Liberty City (alternative version of New York we visited in GTA III and GTA IV. The rumours from March 2018 as well as the ones from May and June this year claim that. The mysterious developer associated with PlayStation 5 also tell us about Miami and New York.

Some reports suggest that the game world may be even more extensive. Perhaps we will find third city on the map and it may be Los Santos. However, it can be a completely new place that will be based on Orlando or Brazilian Rio de Janeiro. The second option would mean that in the newest Rockstar Games production we will find ourselves outside the borders of the United States. It is worth to note that travels to South America appear even in the leak by The Know channel from March 2018. Maybe there really is something to it?

The leak from September this year mentions two completely different cities – Las Venturas (fictional Las Vegas) as well as San Fierro (which is an alternative version of San Francisco). They might appear on one gigantic map, which will be four times bigger than the one from GTA V. Interestingly, one of the rumours (from August 2017) says that the developers were thinking about moving the action to… London. This idea was; however, abandoned. 

Certainly the most interesting and the most exciting possibility appeared in the latest leak from May 2019. According to information, the action of Grand Theft Auto VI will take place in… almost entire United States. The map would include all the iconic locations and cities we know from current instalments.The source of this information is a negative rating issued to Rockstar Games on Glassdoor, where employees anonymously comment on employers. A similar concept appeared a year ago in one of the GTAForums posts. Its author suggested that he was working on a GTA 6 map that covered the entire USA. The idea seems crazy and extremely ambitious. However, isn’t it exactly what we learned to expect from “Rock Stars”?

Storyline and heroes (or heroines) in GTA 6

Most of the leaks suggest that we shouldn’t expect any surprises in terms of what story we receive. The most likely scenario is that it will be a classic story about a gangster who started at the very bottom of the food chain and became one of the greatest gangsters. We will start our journey from collecting debts and petty thefts. With time, we will gain more contacts, earn huge money, get new toys and gradually, become “the one who nocks” – the badass and the boss of all bosses – a quick explanation for all the readers who did not watch the Breaking Bad series. 

Speaking of a hero, we should use plural form because a lot of things suggest that similarly to what GTA v offered, the newest edition of the cycle will let us control several protagonists. What is more, one of the main characters will, for the first time in the history of the series, be a woman. The leak from August 2017 suggests that it will be… a prostitute named Theresa. The same source tells us that the two other characters will be the night club owner and the redneck, namely a stereotypical citizen of American countryside. The last character is likely to resemble a popular Trevor from GTA 5, but it seems he will be much calmer. On the other hand the latest (September) leak indicates that there will be two characters – a woman and a man. However, there are no further details about that.

The idea recurring in several rumours about a female protagonist seems to be very interesting and it would allow producers to show some things from a completely different perspective. Truth to be told, if we were to indicate one rumour on GTA 6 that at this moment is the most probable, then it would be this information. 

The leak from June offers us a completely different concept on the main character and the storyline in GTA 6. According to this leak, we will receive one protagonist. It will be a man named Ricardo, who deals with drug trafficking across the southern border of USA (what fits the earlier rumours of South America). The history of this character would be inspired by the Netflix’s TV series Narcos (two first seasons told us the story of a drug lord – Pablo Escobar. Perhaps this will be the inspiration for creating a new character). 

Gameplay and premiere date

The smallest amount of information from these leaks concern the mechanics and gameplay in the game. However, we can find a few things.Rumours from June (the same from which we learned about Narcos inspiration), also mention about keeping the balance between having a simple life and entertainment. Supposedly, we shouldn’t expect to get such realistic ideas as in case of Red Dead Redemption II (what suggests there will be no hunger meter, for example), but it doesn’t change the fact that there will still be solutions that will improve the immersions of the game.

The characters will speak in various languages, and the value of items and buildings will change as time goes by (what by the way tells us that the production will present a long-lasting story). What is more, there might even be the occurrence of extreme weather such as hurricanes or floods. According to this source, it might be even possible to find a mechanics responsible for developing a criminal underworld, which would be similar to what we had in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories but much more expanded. 

The information about the afore-mentioned highly advanced weather system appeared in the leak from September this year. Another leak from the same month suggests that Rockstar is going to make changes in gun trading – laying your hands on the heaviest of weapons, namely rocket launchers, will be much more difficult (though not impossible). In the game it is said that there will also be heists, managing your own business, and access to numerous mini-games like for example carnival games, gambling, rafting, or bowling. The same source tells us some information about buildings – supposedly in the cities there will be more places where we can enter, particularly shopping malls, fast food restaurants, police stations, and petrol stations. 

When will we play GTA 6?

The information that is most often repeated in many rumours about GTA 6 concerns the premiere date. Most of the leaks suggest that the game will hit the market in 2020 or 2021. Similarly, previously mentioned source connected with PS5 claimed that another title from Rockstar Games studio will be available in winter holiday time in 2020. Next year, as one of the possibilities, was also suggested by leak published on the forum 4Chan in September 2017 (the second date they gave us was 2019, which we can surely exclude).

2020 or 2021 as premiere dates also appeared in recent statement made by Steven Ogg. He was a voice over actor who starred Trevor in GTA V. He stated that games (probably productions made by Rockstar Games) need 7 to 8 years to be produced. As we know, the last instalment of the series debuted in 2013. From time to time other dates appear in this type of announcements. For example, in the leak from The Know channel from March 2018 there is a bit distant date, which is 2022. Information from September suggests that the game will be announced in the end of next year, what also indicates date far away from this moment.