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Rockstar Games Founder Predicts Major GTA 6 Change

One of the co-founders of Rockstar Games, Jamie King, who is no longer with the company, thinks [...]

comicbook.com

One of the co-founders of Rockstar Games, Jamie King, who is no longer with the company, thinks GTA 6 may be very different in a few major ways compared to GTA 5 and previous installments. It's well-known that the Grand Theft Auto series is a satire of America, and thus humor and being edgy is part of the DNA of the franchise. However, Rockstar Games co-founder Jamie King thinks this could change going forward, starting with GTA 6.

Now, it's unclear who King remains in contact with at the company, but there's no word of this prediction being based on any type of inside knowledge. Whatever the case, King thinks the company could be different going forward, due to more than one contributing factor, including the massive success of GTA 5 and GTA Online and the notable departures the company has suffered the last few years. That said, King has a hard time imagining things changing so much that it would result in Rockstar messing up the machine it has created.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the tone starts changing, and if it's maybe not quite as edgy or quite as funny," said King. "I just think maybe there's more opportunity for them to do something cheesy, cause they never do. Maybe not, right? Again, there's a beautiful machine there that you'd have to try really hard to f**k up, to screw up. I just look at the success of [GTA] 5 and [GTA] Online and [Red Dead] Redemption 2, and I think that there just going to be fine. But I think culturally, internally, both at [Rockstar] North and [Rockstar] New York they are missing Leslie [Benzies] and Dan [Houser]. Yeah, there's a difference, for sure."



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Rockstar Games Co-Founder Reveals Why He Left the Company

Rockstar Games Co-Founder reveals the situation leading to his departure from the GTA series creator after major successes.

gamerant.com

Jamie King - co-founder at Rockstar - departed from the company much earlier than any of these recent controversies. In the mid-2000s, Rockstar was hitting its stride after releasing critically acclaimed and much-loved games such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, yet still King decided to leave the company. Speaking to Spanish YouTuber killazspain, King sought to explain his sudden departure from the company at what was a period of great success, his time with Grand Theft Auto and his thoughts on the developers as well.

The conversation spanned for around twenty minutes, and through it King revealed that he and Rockstar had parted ways because of a miscommunication surrounding the direction the games producer would take following the success of Grand Theft Auto . “I left because I thought the situation was one-way," King said. "and the situation was actually a different way, and the way I found out, I was just like ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ Took all the fight, took all the excitement out for me."

King also explained the personal aspect of his decision. Due to the creativeness of the gaming industry, often it's hard to separate the person from the games they produce, and thus it is often seen as a personal decision whenever a studio cuts ties with a developer, such as Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami in 2015. “It was personal," King stated. "But at the same time ... I understand the terrain that I’m in and if I don’t like it, I need to be the one that moves on.”

Jamie King was the first major name to leave Rockstar back in 2006, and he also stated that he has no plans on returning to the studio. The co-founder has made his mark through the production of Bully, Max Payne, and others, and appears happy in his pursuit of other passions.

 

[ckaneo]

GTA 5 was one of the unfunniest and worst attempts at satire I've ever seen. That being said RDR2 was great story and writing wise so I hope it's more like that

 

[KyoZz]

"I wouldn't be surprised if the tone starts changing, and if it's maybe not quite as edgy or quite as funny," said King. "I just think maybe there's more opportunity for them to do something cheesy, cause they never do. Maybe not, right? Again, there's a beautiful machine there that you'd have to try really hard to f**k up, to screw up. I just look at the success of [GTA] 5 and [GTA] Online and [Red Dead] Redemption 2, and I think that there just going to be fine. But I think culturally, internally, both at [Rockstar] North and [Rockstar] New York they are missing Leslie [Benzies] and Dan [Houser]. Yeah, there's a difference, for sure."

Yep, exactly how I feel about R*.

GTA is dead, long live GTA...

 

[Magic Carpet]

I'll take a stab.
Will be set in China as a Satire of what living there is currently like. GangDong as a remake of Guangdong.
The only satire will be the West constant mockery of the ideal life as set forth by the Government.
The villian will be an American seeking work as no jobs are available in America anymore who is part of crime underground.
You play as GangDong police who keeps the peace by ridding the streets of the filth.
Instead of stealing cars you 'appropriate' them as official duty.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

The creative geniuses behind pretty much all their successes have left the company. Rockstar is dead to me regardless given their continued abysmal treatment of PC fans.

 

[DJTaurus]

A political correct GTA is like Ubisoft releasing another watch dogs but with higher production values. It would be a sad day if another big franchise would go that way….

 

[Hypereides]

Yeah, no shit. We live in a time where exaggerated, blue or black humor will be taken at face value and make someone screech on some social media platform about it. Potenially, causing a shockwave of outrage.

For the most part, Rockstar's edgy takes was what made them stand out among the crowd. It was part of their identity. Subtracting that just makes them as any other bland AAA dev in the biz.

 

[Fare thee well]

Also Jamie King: Then I look at the trilogy remaster and go GTA 6 might be REALLY different

 

[underwater]

Instead of the character wheel from GTAV there will be a "gender wheel" so at any time during the game you can switch what gender your character identifies as. It will impact how much your character gets paid for heists (the gender pay gap) and if people in stores call you the wrong gender you can get mad and trash the place.

 

[lh032]

Perhaps a female protagonist wit the side swipe hairstyle?

 

[nightmare-slain]

no shit.

rockstar have become the very thing they hated and made fun of. with Dan + Leslie gone the writing/gameplay is unlikely to match previous games. also the world we live in today it's so fucked up you couldn't even make it up. rockstar were the ones who weren't afraid of causing controversy but now they are spineless cowards who would rather cater to "modern audiences" and we all know what that means. can't do anything to even slightly upset anyone. it will be a boring souless neutered game designed to milk fans and appease non fans.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Looking like Saints Row reboot got the edge

 

[sertopico]

GTA the way it used to be is a fish out of the water nowadays. I'd try something completely different and forget about this series.

 

[Gameplaylover]

I hope they mean the combat gameplay. That just sucks.

Sleeping combat dogs gameplay + everything else from GTA V = Perfect GTA VI

 

[The Cockatrice]

You're saying I wont be able to punch feminist npc's or other minorities and throw them at the alligators?

Context: and yes twitter got triggered and so he made another video.

 

[Kusanagi2086]

I'll take a stab.
Will be set in China as a Satire of what living there is currently like. GangDong as a remake of Guangdong.
The only satire will be the West constant mockery of the ideal life as set forth by the Government.
The villian will be an American seeking work as no jobs are available in America anymore who is part of crime underground.
You play as GangDong police who keeps the peace by ridding the streets of the filth.
Instead of stealing cars you 'appropriate' them as official duty.

Lol I know you were joking but an Asian city would be cool though imagine rockstars version of Tokyo with the Yakuza.

 

[Sosokrates]

I dont mind if theres less satire.
As long as it remains adult themed with great story, characters, gameplay interesting open world, realistic NPCs and mission activity variety.

I do wonder of take2 is under any political influence which may influence there games, but as far as I know no special interests or politicians have any control over TAke2.

GTA5 took the piss out of the left and right, but GTA in its very nature is probably more right on politics because it increases interest in guns.

 

[Superwave]

The driving in V is abysmal, so shallow and unrealistic it is the worst of both worlds. I just don't want to spend time in its world because of this. A combination of San Andreas and IV would be perfect. The characters constant bickering was so annoying too, like a poor man's Reservoir Dogs. Nothing memorable from the campaign at all really.

So far as the satire element it's laughable they would go down that route now but that has been the backbone of GTA up until now. I could see them attempting to be more serious like what they did with the cinematic music, but then flying scooters etc of GTAO is at odds with this. In the end they are a cash-printing outfit now so expect the new game to be built around that.

For the first time in GTA history I am not hopeful or excited for the next instalment and that's if it comes out in my lifetime.

 

[EverydayBeast]

The gameplay part of it is behind other games as well in my view I’m a Kojima fan those games play pretty well, a porter in death stranding feels more capable, trained than a vigilante causing problems in GTA.

 

[DeepEnigma]

GTA 5 was one of the unfunniest and worst attempts at satire I've ever seen. That being said RDR2 was great story and writing wise so I hope it's more like that

Those RDR2 writers are gone too. The whole company appears to have that culturally regressive shift.

I would not hold my breath. But being pleasantly surprised is welcoming.

 

[nkarafo]

Too bad. GTA always had the most convincing and functioning open world. I hope it doesn't get ruined.

 

[Excess]

GTA5 took the piss out of the left and right, but GTA in its very nature is probably more right on politics because it increases interest in guns.

Agree with you on that first point. Their Rockstar website used to say something like "Bringing conservatives and liberals together," back in 2013. I doubt that's the case now, where you literally have to hide your politics if you even remotely identify with the right.

On the second point, though, I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. The use of weapons in GTA, at least in IV and V, is a pretty good satirical example of gun culture in America.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

You're saying I wont be able to punch feminist npc's or other minorities and throw them at the alligators?

Context: and yes twitter got triggered and so he made another video.

Oh man, the kicking at the end.

 

[Golgo 13]

There’s definitely a shift with Dan Houser leaving. He was a huge part of the company - writing, directing, producing, overseeing projects. Sam Houser is still there but the question remains - has Dan Houser mentored enough talent to carry his vision of the company/games into the future? For example, Miyamoto at Nintendo hasn’t been actively involved in mainline Mario games for awhile, but he’s created a group of employees who are in charge of Mario who have made some incredible Mario games since Miyamoto stepped away - this was intentional and deliberate.

So, are there people there that can carry on Dan/Benzies legacy without them there?

And yes, bending to political pressure will certainly damage to GTA series, particularly if we get watered down versions of protagonists or politically correct storylines or tropes.

Far as I can see, those two factors will determine the future of Rockstar.