Schreier: no single Rockstar developer knows everything in GTA 6

No one person at Rockstar holds the whole of Grand Theft Auto VI in their head, according to Rockstar head of development Aaron Garbut, as relayed by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier in a YouTube video covered by Eurogamer and GTABoom.

GTABoom says the video was posted on October 19 and collects material that didn't make Schreier's larger Bloomberg feature on the game's development, which he reported after visiting Rockstar North.

What we know

Schreier quotes Garbut as saying: "There's no one person that has this whole thing in their head." Schreier ties that to a studio culture in which individual developers are given some freedom to add details and features they personally think are worthwhile.

He pointed to Red Dead Redemption 2's weather-reactive horse anatomy as an example. According to Schreier, Garbut said it was not on any feature list or ordered by an art director, but added by one person or a small group on their own initiative. Eurogamer notes it is checking that anecdote with Rockstar.

Other points from the video, per the two outlets:

• Roads in GTA 6 are "significantly narrower" than in GTA 5, so traffic is felt more. GTABoom reports Garbut said this forced more buildings and construction around the denser layout.
• Some artists have worked on the game for more than 11 years, since 2015 or earlier.
• Eurogamer reports the art production team grew from five or six people on GTA 5 to 65 on GTA 6.
• RDR2's contextual hold-left-trigger interaction system came from Phil Hooker, now director of technology, working on his own initiative rather than from creative leads, according to Eurogamer.
• GTABoom reports Rob Nelson told Schreier the team spent a long time trying to replace the weapon wheel, including trays, webs and no wheel at all, before returning to a version of it.

Eurogamer gives the release date as November 19.

What isn't confirmed yet

These details come from Schreier's account of conversations at Rockstar North rather than from an official Rockstar announcement. Eurogamer says it has asked Rockstar to verify the horse anecdote, and no response is mentioned in its report.