GTA 6 was once called Project Americas and was planned to cover two continents

Home/News/GTA 6 was once called Project Americas and was planned to cover two continents

Rockstar is opening the door a crack. In a detailed Bloomberg interview, the studio heads recount how GTA 6 came to be. We couldn't read the original article behind the paywall, so the details come from reports by Eurogamer, VGC, GameStar, and PC Gamer. The game is set to release on November 19, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. According to reports, a PC version is planned for the first quarter of 2027, though it hasn't been officially confirmed.

The codename was Project Americas. According to Bloomberg, Rockstar at one point intended to cover large swathes of land in North and South America. In the end, it was narrowed down to Miami and its surroundings. Rob Nelson traveled there with employees in 2015 for the initial research trip. The project originally ran in parallel with Red Dead Redemption 2 but was pushed back by years as the Western kept growing larger.

Why Did GTA 6 Take So Long?

After RDR2, Rockstar grew from 2,441 to 4,711 employees across 12 locations. Dan Houser left the studio, with Nelson, Aaron Garbut, and Phil Hooker taking over leadership. By late 2019, the basic framework and the duo Jason and Lucia were in place. Then came Corona, and several senior designers resigned. From 2022 onwards, the game truly began to take shape.

On the topic of crunch, Head of Publishing Jennifer Kolbe calls RDR2 “a real moment” for introspection: “We’re not doing it again like this.” It's not perfect, but it's better. Bloomberg spoke with dozens of employees, who were largely positive. The 2022 leak hit the team hard. Garbut says it felt like someone was wading through their dirty laundry, “extremely invasive”.

Then came the delays. The first trailer in 2023 still promised a 2025 release, then May 2026 followed, and now November 19. Kolbe called Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. He essentially asked if she was joking. After her explanation, he understood. The sheer number of NPCs also slowed things down: Nelson called the projections “horrifying”. Rockstar built its own studio in Los Angeles specifically for writers. Hooker states that they could have met the deadline, “but it won’t be the game we want to make”. Officially, the reason given at the time was simply that it needed polishing.

From our perspective, this is the most honest explanation Rockstar has provided so far. It also explains why a highly anticipated game was delayed so often. For players, this means the November release date seems more solid than previous ones, as the studio is openly discussing issues. And those who are looking forward to vibrant streets will apparently get a lot of handcrafted detail.

Will the Next Rockstar Game Arrive Sooner?

According to VGC, that should be the case. The engine, tools, and team enable faster work, says Hooker, stating they are moving “more sideways than upwards”. Garbut adds that they have fundamentally changed many things, and these won't be dismantled again. Bloomberg points to Vice City, which was released a year after GTA 3. However, such a close interval is not in sight. GameStar calculates that the pure development time was closer to around eight years, even if 13 years separate GTA 5 and GTA 6.

More on the topic: Despite realism, Rockstar promises continued action and chaos in GTA 6. You can also read about the rumors surrounding the PC version in Q1 2027 here. Further information about the studio can be found on the Rockstar Games website.