‘We Have To Be Careful’ — Rockstar on GTA 6’s Approach to Satire

In 13 years, the challenge of developing a Grand Theft Auto game in a series known for satire has grown, according to Rob Nelson, co-studio head of Rockstar North. "That's a question a lot of people ask: how do you deal with satire in today's world?" Nelson told IGN during an exclusive visit to the developer's Scottish office. "I think there's always stuff to satirize.

As long as humans are humans, other humans will figure out ways to satirize what we do. For us, because we work on such a long development cycle, we have to not jump on stuff and instead choose our angle of approach carefully and decide what things are going to be a bit more timeless." Rockstar's approach to satire involves avoiding specific political issues or memes that could quickly become dated.

They also pay close attention to the characters' speech patterns, ensuring they don't use overly contemporary slang. The developers aim to create believable and relatable backgrounds for the characters, giving players enough detail to connect with them. For GTA 6, the origin point is the game world, specifically a return to Vice City.

The developers spend time meeting with people in Miami and Florida to understand the experiences, places, and characters they want to feature in the game. They then decide on a set of characters to take the player through, improving upon what was done in previous games, with a focus on choice and the connection between the narrative character and the open world.

Despite the anticipation and pressure to deliver a game that meets expectations, Rockstar remains cautious about the approach to satire in GTA 6.