Bloomberg's GTA 6 report: NPCs caused both delays, and Rockstar doubled its staff to finish the game

The answer to “why did GTA 6 take so long” turns out to be the people on the pavement. In Bloomberg’s report, published on October 14, Jason Schreier visits Rockstar North in Edinburgh and talks to the studio’s leadership, and the reason they give for both delays is the crowd: Leonida needed so many NPCs, each written, voiced and animated, that Rockstar had to open a whole new studio just for them. Rockstar also released a set of new screenshots alongside the piece.

What the report says

• GTA 6 started as Project Americas around 2015, with a first research trip to Miami and a map that was meant to cover large parts of North and South America.
• Staff went back to Miami again and again: riding along with police to the city’s crime hot spots, leaning out of helicopters for aerial photos and pushing through the busiest nightclubs to study the lighting.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 pulled most of the company onto it, so the next GTA slipped by several years. Real production only began after 2018.
• By the end of 2019 the story of Jason and Lucia was in place. The overall vision took longer: co-head of development Rob Nelson calls it a dark period.
• After Dan Houser left, development was run by three people, Rob Nelson, Aaron Garbut and Phil Hooker. Some staff complained about slow decisions and conflicting direction.
• The pandemic stopped work at the performance-capture studios.
• The NPC workload was what broke the schedule. Nelson called the projections “horrifying”, and Rockstar built a Los Angeles studio of writers, producers and directors dedicated to NPCs.
• Rockstar grew from 2,441 to 4,711 employees across 12 offices since Red Dead 2.
• On cost, Rockstar didn’t give a number but denied that GTA 6 cost more than the rumoured $1.5 billion.

Thirteen years, in dates

The exact wording Rockstar used for each delay is on our delay history page.

The NPC problem

This is the part that makes complete sense to me. In a city like Vice City an NPC is not a mannequin with a walk cycle. Every one needs lines, reactions, animations for a dozen situations, and a reason to be on that street at that hour. Multiply it by a whole state and the number stops being a design question and becomes a staffing one.

Phil Hooker gave the best example. During testing a small collision with another car set off a chain of arguments, thefts and police chases, and he lost two hours before he got back to the story mission he had started. That’s the dream for players and a nightmare for a schedule: every system that makes the street feel alive is another system that has to be finished and tested.

The same goes for Jason and Lucia. They needed a companion system smart enough to carry their relationship into the open world, not only into cutscenes, and the leads argued about whether it was worth the work. They decided it was.

What Bloomberg saw in the game

Schreier also watched the game running, and the details are the ones you only get from a live demo:

• Jason can text Lucia and ask to meet. A few minutes later she turns up, and from there the two of you carry on together.
• They can walk through a park holding hands.
• At the gym, Lucia runs on the treadmill while Jason does squats.
• They can rob a convenience store together, get chased by the police and keep flirting and talking while they run.
• In one demo they slipped into the back office of a gas station and took the cash without alerting anyone. Rockstar says there are “hundreds” of small interiors like it.
• The team argued about how far realism should go, down to whether a beer should be taken out of a fridge by hand.
• Lucia’s mother is no fan of Jason: the couple remembers a time she got angry with him.

That last one made me laugh, and it’s also the most Rockstar detail of the lot. The relationship isn’t a cutscene feature, it’s a system with its own history. Everything we know about the two of them is on the Jason and Lucia page.

What changed in the studio

Rockstar reworked its schedules and pays for overtime with time off and, in some cases, extra money. Head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe told Bloomberg that crunch hasn’t been eliminated entirely, and that individual experiences may differ. Most of the staff Schreier spoke to described the change as real. In 2024 the studio brought everyone back to the office five days a week and shut remote access to its tools, which hit parents hardest.

The report also covers the 2025 dismissal of 34 employees, most of whom were involved in union organising. The employees say it was about the union; Rockstar says they shared confidential information. The case was still before an employment tribunal when the piece came out.

What it means for November 19

Nothing in the report moves the date: GTA 6 still looks set for November 19, 2026. Hooker said an earlier release was possible, just not the game the team wanted. The more interesting line is about the future. Rockstar’s leaders say the engine, tools and team built for GTA 6 will let them make new content much faster, and that the next game won’t take another eight years.

As for the money, Bloomberg’s estimate is that development cost more than $1 billion, under the $1.5 billion rumour. How that compares with the other estimates is on our GTA 6 budget page.

FAQ

What did Bloomberg say caused the GTA 6 delays?
According to Bloomberg’s report, mainly because of the NPCs. The amount of writing and animation they needed outgrew the team, and Rockstar built a separate Los Angeles studio to handle it.

Did GTA 6 cost more than $1.5 billion?
Rockstar didn’t give a figure, but denied that it cost more than the rumoured $1.5 billion. Bloomberg estimates development at more than $1 billion.

How many people work at Rockstar?
4,711 across 12 offices, according to the report, up from 2,441 at the time of Red Dead Redemption 2.

What was GTA 6’s codename?
Project Americas. The early plan covered large parts of North and South America before the game was focused on Vice City and the rest of Leonida.