Grand Theft Auto VI Dynamic Map Rumors May Be Overly Hyped
Most of the other details we have on the next Grand Theft Auto title come from articles posted to Bloomberg by longtime game journalist Jason Schreier. The most recent article is Jason's own reporting, and it's based on his industry insider knowledge as well as what he's been able to squeeze out of his contacts at Rockstar. Much of the post reiterates details we already knew, but one key detail has been making the rounds recently, so we should bear it out.
The factoid from Schreier's rumor roundup that's got everyone a-buzz lately is the realization that the game will have a dynamic map that will change over time. Unlike GTA 4 and GTA V, where the expansive game worlds were almost completely static (aside from changes made with DLC updates to GTA V's online mode), GTA VI was stated to feature a map that will be "continually updated over time," to add "new missions and cities on a regular basis."
Schreier stated that Rockstar's leadership—which is quite significantly different from when GTA V came out, including the ousting of controversial co-founder Dan Houser—hopes that the new model will help reduce developer crunch during the game's final months before release. What does this mean for the final game? It means that you can expect the map for GTA VI to likely be much smaller on launch than it ends up once Rockstar stops updating the game.
The relevant quote from Schreier's article, which is mostly about Rockstar's efforts to reduce crunch.
Does that mean GTA VI's map will be small on launch in comparison to the previous games, then? Maybe, but we don't think so. Schreier also wrote that GTA VI's original internal codename at Rockstar was "Project Americas," and that under this title, it was planned to be drastically more vast than any of the company's games to date, modeling huge swaths of both North and South America. Those ambitious plans were seemingly scrapped for a more conventional title that focuses on the fictionalized version of Miami known in-world as Vice City as well as its surrounding areas, but we would still expect the game world to be downright massive.
Some sites have taken the "dynamic map" idea and run with it, hypothesizing that the map could change in response to player events, and become an "interactive entity". We don't really think that's the case—at least, not based on Schreier's words. However, earlier rumors have promised other exciting things about GTA VI, including that it will have extremely advanced NPC AI, and that it will boast cutting-edge rendering technology. The game is expected to launch on current-generation consoles, so we wouldn't hold our breath for a path-traced mode, but maybe when the PC version launches circa 2028 or so.
Unofficial (but gorgeous) GTA VI logo in top image created by Loopinnu on Deviantart.
