Retroscena Svelati: More than Ten Years and Four Screenplays for Grand Theft Auto VI

After more than a decade of development, Grand Theft Auto VI approaches release, but the path to the next chapter of Rockstar Games’ criminal epic was far from simple. As revealed by a former employee of the company and former editor of Rockstar Magazine, four versions of the script of the sequel of GTA 5 were discarded before arriving at the final. The development of GTA VI officially began in 2014, immediately after the planetary success of Grand Theft Auto 5. The first draft of the story was entrusted to Dan Houser, a key figure in the creation of dark and cynical narratives that characterized the saga. This version provided a former Vice City police officer involved in the crime to save his son, the son himself in conflict with organized crime and a right arm of a powerful Colombian drug lord. However, the too dark tone was judged unsuitable by Rockstar herself and Take-Two Interactive. After only a few months, the first script was abandoned. The second iteration, focused on a newly released African American soldier in prison with a more personal plot, had short life. In 2019, a third version was taken into consideration, which was also rejected internally. This succession of cancellations led Rockstar to temporarily suspend narrative development, a break amplified by Houser's departure in 2020. It was just after the Houser scene that took shape the definitive story of GTA 6, with protagonists Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval, a duo inspired by the criminal couple Bonnie & Clyde. The fact of seeing four versions of the script and over ten years of gestation underlines the obsessive perfectionism of Rockstar Games. With a development budget that, according to some sources, exceeds billion dollars, GTA 6 is already one of the most ambitious projects in video game history. The future will tell us if the care and waiting will be repaid in 2026. VERDETTO: MISTO Il fatto di aver visto quattro versioni della sceneggiatura di GTA VI, frutto di oltre dieci anni di sviluppo e una pausa narrativa dovuta a scelte interne, suggerisce un approccio metodologico estremamente rigoroso, quasi ossessivo. È innegabilmente impressionante l'investimento di risorse – un budget superiore al miliardo di dollari – che Rockstar sta dedicando al progetto, ma anche la frequenza con cui le direzioni narrative sono state abbandonate solleva interrogativi sulla gestione del processo creativo e sul potenziale impatto su una storia finita. L’ispirazione alla coppia Bonnie & Clyde, incarnata da Lucia Caminos e Jason Duval, rappresenta un cambio di passo rispetto al tono più cupo delle prime bozze, ma non elimina la sensazione che il gioco, per raggiungere i livelli di successo di GTA 5, debba ancora affrontare sfide significative.

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