GTA 6 NPCs have around 600,000 animations, Edge cover story says

Grand Theft Auto VI's pedestrians are built on roughly 600,000 animations, each art-directed by Rockstar, according to Edge's GTA VI cover story by Simon Parkin, as reported by PC Gamer.

What we know

Per the Edge preview quoted by PC Gamer, Rockstar did not lean mainly on procedural systems to fill Leonida's streets with interchangeable crowds. Instead, the studio set up a dedicated Los Angeles team of writers, directors and producers whose job is to make the game's NPCs feel more like individuals.

Edge reports that pedestrians are given personality traits that shape their reactions. The factors listed include:

• Temperament and aggression
• Their location
• What they have witnessed
• How the player has treated them

The preview adds that different districts carry their own demographic and professional character, which affects who you meet and how they behave. Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson framed it as a set of questions the game is answering: "Who's going to be aggressive? How many people are going to go for a weapon? How many are going to test me?"

Edge describes the classic GTA pedestrian, once little more than scenery that panics at a drawn gun, as having broken into "a kaleidoscopic range of possible reactions." In one demo moment recounted in the preview, a man walking a dog takes Jason's stare as a challenge, squares up and lets the dog off its leash. Nelson, playing, runs; the dog chases him before giving up and returning to its owner. Jason then pulls cigarettes from his inventory and lights one.

In another scene, Nelson spots two officers making an arrest with their cars left unattended, quietly opens one vehicle's boot, takes a shotgun and walks off. Edge notes the group had been watching for three minutes.

PC Gamer also points back to earlier reporting that the scale of the NPC work briefly overwhelmed the studio, prompting the creation of that dedicated team. The full Edge feature is hosted on GamesRadar, according to PC Gamer.

What isn't confirmed yet

• How these systems hold up once millions of players are in the game; PC Gamer says that remains to be seen.
• A PC release date. PC Gamer notes GTA VI is coming to consoles first and that rumours suggest a PC version won't be far behind, but nothing has been announced.