MJ

Reasons I’m concerned GTA VI will be bad. •Dan Houser left in 2020 and confirmed he wrote none of GTA 6, ending the main narrative voice of the series since the late 1990s. •Public writing credit shifted to Rupert Humphries (SVP of narrative) and Michael Wiafe, not the old Houser-led room. •Newer associate writers tied to the project have TV-comedy backgrounds (Brooklyn 99, Veep / The Thick of It, Disney), a different pipeline than classic GTA radio satire. •Bloomberg (2022): Rockstar overhauled itself after RDR2 crunch from a “boys’ club” into a more progressive, woke, HR-conscious company. •Same reporting: the next GTA would avoid “punching down,” drop old misogynistic shortcuts, and use a Latina woman in a Bonnie-and-Clyde pair. •Bloomberg (2024): management told GTA 6 writers to be “less crude” toward trans people and other minorities who used to be throwaway gag targets. •GTA 5’s current-gen rerelease already removed some of those jokes after pressure from an industry LGBT group. •Rockstar has said older GTAs were criticized for thin/sexist women and that they want to attract more female players so they’re making women more ugly on purpose. •The story is built around a couple with the man taking the backseat, not a lone antihero or a trio of separate men. •Official framing: Lucia is the first fully realized female lead; she is often treated as the driver of the pair. •Jason is publicly described as lower-ambition, waiting on Lucia, scraping by, reactive in a lot of the shown footage. Trying to appease the woman. •Marketing and previews lean on domestic/relationship beats (dress choice, hand-holding, “steward of their relationship”). •Romance is optional in systems, but the plot still forces them to stay partners for most of the story. •Nelson’s line: “In this world, you’re not a God” — less consequence-free chaos, more reactive NPCs/police/story attachment. •Rockstar wants the couple relationship to stay central. •Take-Two/Rockstar became more leak-scarred, PR-conscious, and risk-averse during a 10+ year development cycle. •The company is much larger than pre-2013 Rockstar; more layers of approval sit on jokes, sex, and politics. •Satire is frowned upon unlike old GTA jokes due to pressure from activist groups; the safe move is to soften some targets and put emotion in the middle. This is Grand Theft Auto in name only like the upcoming Witcher, recent 007, new gears of war, new halo games, etc…