Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition News

Hoping GTA 6 will be "wildly different" to GTA 5? Well, a GTA 4 technical director reckons Rockstar will have had a tough time making a big jump

The hype train for GTA 6 is already well and truly chugging along at this point. However, if you're hoping it'll offer an experience that's "wildly different" to GTA 5 in terms of being a huge step forward from a technical standpoint, a long-time Rockstar developer reckons you might want to keep your expectations in check a bit.

In an interview with YouTube channel SanInPlay, Obbe Vermeij, who served as a techincal director at Rockstar from 1995 to 2009, touched on the topic of expectations for this next entry in the series. He offered some interesting perspective as to why he thinks Rockstar may well have faced a big challenge - at least in comparison to previous titles in the series - when it comes to the idea of making a huge leap forwards with GTA 6.

"I don't think it's going to be wildly different to GTA 5," said Vermeij, who worked on GTAs 3 through 4 before leaving the studio in 2009, "I think people might be a little disappointed on the first day, but it's still gonna be the best game out there."

My hopes for Grand Theft Auto 6, I worry, are quite different from Rockstar's own ambitions. I don't like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. I think it's directionless, too open, and too silly. Similarly, I don't enjoy anything about (the single-player) of Grand Theft Auto 5. GTA 3, Vice City, and more broadly Red Dead Redemption 2 are more my preference. I prefer when Rockstar is contained and somber, and willing to sacrifice player freedom in exchange for a more coherent plot. Perhaps it was before its time. Perhaps it was too different. Nevertheless, the best GTA game is now just $6.

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Why does GTA 3's moon change shape when you snipe it? Because some Rockstar devs couldn't settle a tiff

Why does the moon in GTA 3 change size whenever you shoot it with a sniper rifle? It’s a question that’s been haunting all of us for a long time now. Well, Thanks to one of the developers who worked on the game, we now know the answer.

GTA games are known for being home to the odd semi-hidden quirk or easter egg can that make for a great way to impress your little cousin if it’s their first time watching you play. Getting inside the Statue of Liberty in GTA 4 and casually basking in the cartoonish red glow of its beating heart is probably my personal favourite, but I’d imagine it didn’t come about via an unresolved dev argument.

You know what did? The fact that you can cause GTA 3’s moon to change size by sticking a bullet in it. Yup, ex-Rockstar Technical Director Obbe Vermeij - who you might remembeR having previously shared some details about a brief effort to make a Scottish zombie survival game using Vice City’s code - was there, and the whole moon thing was his way of trying to stop his coworkers from arguing with each other.

Grand Theft Auto has long stood the test of time as one of the most iconic game series ever. Rockstar Games' long-lasting line of city-based criminal activity-focused experiences has just evolved even further with the company's new GTA+ subscription membership benefits. The developer just announced that all players subscribed will have access to a steadily changing selection of classic Grand Theft Auto games, from beloved entries like San Andreas to Vice City.

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Rockstar loses another one of its key writers

Michael Unsworth, vice president of writing at Rockstar Games, has seemingly left the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer.

As spotted by GTAForums user Rucke, and shared by Rockstar Games new account SWEGTA, Unsworth recently updated his LinkedIn page indicating that he was no longer with the developer. There's no indication on his profile as to what he's doing next, and neither he nor Rockstar has shared why he decided to leave. Unsworth has been with Rockstar for 16 years, starting as a senior creative writer in 2007, later going on to become writing director in 2019, before spending the past two years as the company's vice president of writing.

His credits include a big range of the developer's catalogue, including Grand Theft Auto 4, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto 5, Max Payne 3, LA Noire, and most recently Red Dead Redemption 2. It's unclear at this point in time if he will be credited for any writing on GTA 6, or even if he has done any for it, as it's not currently listed in his writing credits.