«Please tell me you're kidding»: Bloomberg on how GTA 6 was made

Confirmed Published on October 25, 2026 5 min read By Alex di LeonidaGuide Last checked October 25, 2026

Illustration: a game studio at night in a stone building, rows of desks with monitors showing the Vice City skyline at sunset, a large map on the wall and Edinburgh castle beyond rain-streaked windows — Original illustration: eight years of work on Vice City, seen from Edinburgh. Image: Leonidaguide

For years Rockstar said very little about how GTA 6 was being made. In mid-October, a month before launch, it made an exception: it opened Rockstar North’s doors to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who spent a day in Edinburgh and interviewed the people running the project. His long feature came out on October 14, followed on the 19th by a video with the material that did not fit.

It is the fullest account Rockstar has ever given of this game. These are the parts that matter.

The first name was “Project Americas”

The game started with an ambitious code name: Project Americas. The original idea was to cover large parts of North and South America. The first research trip to Miami dates back to 2015. Then the project narrowed to Vice City and its surroundings, what became the state of Leonida.

Part of the reason it took so many years is another game. Rockstar hoped to develop the new GTA alongside Red Dead Redemption 2, but finishing the western took almost the whole company, and GTA 6 slipped by a few years. By the end of 2019 Jason and Lucia’s story was sketched out, but a lot about how it should play was still undecided.

Illustration: a game studio at night with monitors on Vice City and Edinburgh castle beyond the windows

Original illustration. Rockstar North works in Edinburgh, where Bloomberg spent a day in late September while the team was fixing the last bugs.

Two delays and a call to Take-Two

Announced in 2023 for 2025, GTA 6 slipped first to May 26, 2026, then to November 19, 2026. According to Rockstar there was no single crisis: different parts of the game simply moved at different speeds.

Both times, it was Jennifer Kolbe who broke the news to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick. Her memory of his reaction became many outlets’ headline:

How many people work on it, and what it costs

To make GTA 6 Rockstar nearly doubled in size: in 2018, when Red Dead Redemption 2 came out, it had 2,441 employees; by August 2026 it had 4,711, across twelve offices. To write and animate the huge number of supporting characters it also opened a dedicated studio in Los Angeles.

On cost, Rockstar gives no figure. Kolbe does deny the most common rumor though: it is not true that GTA 6 cost more than $1.5 billion. It is not a number, but it is an explicit denial. We lined up every estimate going around, and the real accounting documents, in how much GTA 6 cost.

Overtime, leaks and the next game

ReportedWhat else comes out

Overtime: according to Kolbe, Rockstar did not want to finish another game with long stretches of crunch. It hired more people, changed schedules and now compensates extra hours with paid time off. She does not claim the problem is gone.
The 2022 leak: after the 90 stolen clips, Rockstar tightened security. Since 2024 staff work in the office five days a week, with no access to tools from home.
The roads: in the video, Garbut explains that GTA 6’s roads are much narrower than GTA 5’s, with more traffic. A choice made at the start, which meant many more buildings to create.
The weapon wheel: the team spent months testing other solutions before going back to the wheel, with a more limited arsenal, closer to Red Dead Redemption 2.
The next game: according to Hooker, the engine, tools and team built for GTA 6 will let Rockstar work faster. The next project should not take another eight years. No new game has been announced.

On the date, Schreier is cautious: November 19 looks like the real one, but nothing is certain until the game runs on people’s consoles. Hooker confirms in his own way that work has not stopped: even in the last few months, he said, they changed things.

In brief

Rockstar told Bloomberg the story of GTA 6, with interviews with Nelson, Garbut, Hooker and Kolbe.
The project was called Project Americas and was meant to cover half a continent; it then became Leonida.
Kolbe broke both delays to Zelnick: “please tell me you’re kidding”.
Rockstar grew from 2,441 to 4,711 employees between 2018 and 2026.
Kolbe denies GTA 6 cost more than $1.5 billion, but gives no figure.

Frequently asked questions

Why was GTA 6 delayed twice?

According to Rockstar, not because of a single crisis: different parts of the game did not come together in time. Hooker says an earlier date was possible, but the game would not have been the one they wanted.

How much did GTA 6 cost?

Rockstar does not say. Jennifer Kolbe did, however, deny to Bloomberg that it cost more than $1.5 billion.

How many people worked on GTA 6?

By August 2026 Rockstar had 4,711 employees across twelve offices, nearly double the 2,441 of 2018. Most of the company now works on one big game at a time.