Rockstar Co-Founder and former boss Dan Houser has shared insights on why the GTA series will always be based on the United States in terms of both it’s setting and narrative playground. On the Lex Fridman podcast, Houser explained that a part of GTA’s unique and signature counter-culture themes are also deeply embedded in Americana, or at least an interpretation of it:
“We made a little thing in London 26 years ago — GTA London — for the top-down for PS1. That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation 1. I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else.
“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider’s perspective. But that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn’t really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”
The spirit of America has always been in the DNA of GTA–Lenoida in the upcoming GTA 6 is a reimagining of Florida, GTA 5’s Blaine County took heavy inspiration from Los Angeles and there are also lots of real world elements relevant to America that have found their ways in the series. Basically, much of the defining characteristics of GTA such as the urban lawless-ness, the moral decadence and more–are rooted in the image of Americana in more ways than one.
Houser also said that he has no doubt that the upcoming GTA 6 will go on to break all kinds of records in the videogame industry when it arrives:
“I would assume it will because it’s so anticipated, and anticipation is the best driver of early sales, as we saw with GTA 4 versus Red Dead Redemption 1,” said Houser. “You know, GTA 4 far more anticipated, sold much better early on. So I would assume [GTA 6] will sell really well. That was never my definition of success, but you certainly wanted to make money. ”
GTA 6 is currently slated to launch for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on May 26, 2026.
