- Grand Theft Auto writer Dan Houser thinks players are excited about GTA 6 because the studio "did a really good job of constantly innovating within what the IP was"
- Houser says, "I think the way the IP kept evolving made people really excited to play it"
- He also thinks marketing, like trailers, plays a big part in the hype
Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has explained why there is so much hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6, arguing that it is due to how the studio has handled the evolution of the IP.
GTA 6 is perhaps the most anticipated game of all time and it's slated to release next year, more than 12 years since GTA 5 launched to critical acclaim. But why is everyone so excited for Rockstar's first game in almost seven years?
When asked this same question in an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, Houser, who served as a writer for almost every GTA game and Red Dead Redemption 2, said it's "because they don’t come out that regularly, and I think we did a really good job of constantly innovating within what the IP was."
"The games always felt different," he said. "People have very strong feelings: 'I like this one. I didn’t like that one as much,' because they are pretty different. So you would… There would be simultaneously where you know what’s going to happen."
He continued: "It’s a Grand Theft Auto, you know, it’s going to be a game about being a criminal, but the way it’s going to be a game is going to change quite a lot. So I think the way the IP kept evolving made people really excited to play it. And we were good at marketing them as well. We really tried to market them in a way that felt like an update of classic film marketing, where you were really…"
"It felt like you’re already in the product just because you’d seen the trailers and stuff."
In the same interview, Houser shared why the GTA series has primarily been set in the US and hasn't returned to London after a brief appearance in the Grand Theft Auto expansion pack London 1969.
He explained that Rockstar "always decided that there so much Americana inherent in the [franchise], it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else," and that "You needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life- characters."
"It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider's perspective [...] it wouldn't really have worked in the same way elsewhere," Houser added.
GTA 6 is scheduled to release on May 26, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The game won't be coming to PC at launch.
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PlayStation 5 Slim
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Xbox Series S
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Nintendo Switch 2
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PlayStation 5 Pro
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