Rockstar hasn’t ruled out a GTA set outside the US, but it isn’t planning one either. Confirmed Asked by The Guardian whether Rockstar could ever make a GTA outside America, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson answered: “Never say never, but there’s still so much to do in America.” Not announced Rockstar has not announced any setting for a game after GTA 6.
The comment comes from a Guardian piece published on November 11, a week before GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19. Its writer spent a day at Rockstar North in Edinburgh, where Nelson and fellow senior executive Jennifer Kolbe showed Vice City.
What Nelson said about America
The Guardian also asked whether Rockstar’s team, mostly based outside the US, sees the country differently. Nelson’s answer: “I think we’re all outsiders to this version of America.” He added that nobody, wherever they live, experiences the America Rockstar portrays in full.
Analysis That reads as a soft no for the near future rather than a plan. “Never say never” keeps the door open, and the second half of the sentence points straight back at the US.
How GTA 6’s Vice City was researched
The rest of the interview is about how Leonida, Rockstar’s version of Florida, was built:
- Rockstar North developers first travelled to Miami for research in 2015, more than ten years before launch.
- On those trips they went on a ride-along with police in South Beach and spent time in bars in the Florida Keys, Nelson says. He described the team as “always semi-undercover”.
- Nelson’s areas on GTA 6 are design, narrative and animation, with some casting, according to The Guardian.
- In Rockstar’s process the place comes first; the story and characters, this time Jason and Lucia, grow out of it.
Has GTA ever left America?
Once, in the series’ first year. GTA is known for its versions of American places, from Liberty City to Los Santos to Vice City, and Eurogamer notes that only London has broken the pattern:
| Release | Year | What it was |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 | 1999 | The first expansion for the original top-down game, set in a fictional late-1960s London |
| Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 | 1999 | A short, free PC mission pack that needed London 1969 and used the same map, eight years earlier |
Both are covered in our GTA history timeline, with their sources. Eurogamer, reporting on Nelson’s comments, also points back to Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser, who has explained in the past that the series keeps returning to American cities because of their extremes of wealth and poverty. Houser is no longer at Rockstar.
What this means for GTA 6
Nothing changes for GTA 6 itself. Confirmed It is set in Leonida, home of Vice City, and comes out on November 19. For how the new city compares with the 2002 game, see new Vice City vs 2002 Vice City, and for scale, how big the GTA 6 map is.
Common questions
Has Rockstar said where the next GTA after GTA 6 is set?
No. Not announced Rockstar hasn’t named a setting, a title or a date for any GTA after GTA 6. Treat any claim about it as a rumour until Rockstar announces it.
Who is Rob Nelson?
He is co-studio head at Rockstar North, Rockstar’s studio in Edinburgh. On GTA 6 his areas are design, narrative and animation, according to The Guardian’s interview.
Sources
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