GTA VI's NPC interactions trace back to a Rockstar prototype from 2014 or 2015, Schreier reports
Bloomberg's Jason Schreier says the Red Dead Redemption 2 system behind GTA VI's NPC interactions began as a 2014 or 2015 prototype, one that was nearly kept away from Rob Nelson.
The system that lets players greet or antagonize strangers in Red Dead Redemption 2, and that Rockstar is carrying over into GTA VI, started as a prototype in 2014 or 2015. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier shared the story in a new YouTube video, Some New Things I Learned About Grand Theft Auto VI And Rockstar, recorded after he visited the studio to see the game.
According to Schreier, the account comes from Rob Nelson. GamesRadar+ describes Nelson as the head of Rockstar North, while Insider Gaming calls him head of development at Rockstar Games. Nelson told Schreier that Mark Tennant, Rockstar's vice president of animation, built the first version of the tech.
The idea was simple. The button that normally raises a gun at an NPC could be used to talk to them instead, friendly or otherwise. In the finished Red Dead Redemption 2, that became holding L2/LT to "Greet or Antagonize".
Nearly kept from the boss
Tennant first took the prototype to Phil Hooker. Hooker reportedly did not want Nelson to see it at first, because Nelson has a reputation as the person who "wants to do the world", even when that means a great deal of extra work for the team. When Nelson did see it, he is said to have called it incredible and predicted it would "revolutionize the way our games and our worlds work."
This part of the story is Schreier's account of what Nelson told him, not something Rockstar has published itself. What Rockstar has said on the record is that the system is coming back. Nelson told IGN:
"The NPC interaction system is one that is returning and evolved from Red Dead Redemption 2."
He added: "While we pushed this sort of interaction with NPCs as far as we could for Red Dead Redemption 2, with GTA VI we are taking it much further."
Other details from the visit
Insider Gaming, citing a summary by @videotech, lists several more points from Schreier's trip to Rockstar's Edinburgh studio:
- Some developers have been on GTA VI for more than 11 years, starting with map design and research in Miami.
- Development went through a difficult stretch from 2019 to 2022, and conditions improved from 2022 to 2023.
- Roads in GTA VI are narrower and denser than in GTA V.
- The game nearly shipped with a different weapon selection interface before Rockstar returned to the weapon wheel.
- The GTA VI Extended Look on Netflix was Rockstar's own idea, proposed by marketing head Mark Adamson.
- Artists are free to add small environmental details on their own.
- Rockstar almost opened an office in Miami.
These details come secondhand from Schreier's video, not from Rockstar. How much further the NPC system goes in GTA VI is something players will only see in the game itself.
