Rockstar Confirms GTA 6’s Original Intercontinental Scope
Grand Theft Auto 6 has been in development for more than a decade, and a new Bloomberg feature by reporter Jason Schreier finally details why. According to the report, Rockstar confirmed that the game began life as the widely rumored "Project Americas," an overambitious concept with multiple protagonists sprawling across both North and South America. The company now admits the scope was unrealistic, and trimming it down pushed the project back by several years.
The report, published midway through October 2026, describes how even seemingly trivial decisions became major hurdles. Co-studio head Rob Nelson told Bloomberg that because impressive graphics make players expect realism, the team agonized over how deep individual mechanics should go — for instance, whether drinking a beer would require shopping for alcohol, opening a fridge, and manually opening the bottle. Much of the game was unfinished while such decisions were being made, so design choices involved guesswork, and building the game's complicated artificial intelligence systems alone took years.
Other obstacles stacked on top of that. Rockstar says productivity suffered during the period when employees worked from home, since performance capture and server access were impractical or prohibited for remote staff. The studio's internal structure also caused friction: a hierarchy with three head-of-development supervisors produced hesitations and conflicting ideas that frustrated workers.
Astronomical fan expectations remain a constant pressure, and Rockstar also took numerous research trips across Florida to authentically depict clubs, parties, and local details. The full report contains additional details about the making of what Rockstar hopes will be the biggest video game of all time.
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