David O’Reilly, a specialist in environment design who previously worked for Rockstar Games, revealed in a recent video on his YouTube channel that the development of GTA 6 might have taken less time than many people think.
This information is not official, but considering O’Reilly worked at Rockstar Games until 2023, he could be well-informed, as GTA 6 was already in development during his time with the team.
GTA 6 Development May Have Taken Less Time Than Expected
It seems that the game reached a high level of quality quickly. The last two years of development have shown major improvements, especially in technology, as seen in the recent GTA 6 trailer, which highlights these advancements.
O’Reilly claims that the full development of GTA 6 only started in 2018, about seven years ago. While that’s still a long time, it’s not as long as expected for such a big game. Especially when you consider the previous GTA 5 was released in 2013.
During this time, Rockstar Games also focused on Red Dead Redemption 2, which delayed the start of GTA 6. O’Reilly worked on Red Dead Redemption 2 before moving to GTA 6.
The game began development in 2018 and was still in full production in 2023 when O’Reilly left the team. In the video, O’Reilly expressed his surprise and excitement about the progress made on GTA 6, especially in lighting, environmental details, and animations, which have improved greatly compared to a few years ago.
This is all very promising, especially since Rockstar Games still has a year left to finish the game, with the release date set for May 26, 2026.
