It was recently revealed that Rockstar Games, for a brief period, was planning to create four playable characters in GTA 6. The upcoming behemoth title is confirmed to feature two playable individuals who are a couple: Jason and Lucia. However, right after GTA 5, the creative heads of the company were scratching their heads about creating more playable roles.
Speaking to IGN, Rockstar North’s co-studio head Rob Nelson explained that after GTA 5, the story development team were brainstorming about how they could improve upon the multiple-protagonist formula. He said that the team briefly discussed going from three characters in GTA 5 to four in the next installment.
The idea was quickly scrapped because the creative heads thought players might not be able to connect as deeply as they wanted with four characters. Hence, they eventually took a step back and went with two who were a couple.
Here’s what he said:
“After doing GTA 5, we talked about different ideas of – do we do more characters? How do we follow up three characters? Is it four characters now? But we worried about diluting the amount of player time with each and therefore player connection with those characters. So we decided to step in this direction of two characters in a relationship.”
GTA 5 had three playable characters: Michael, Trevor, and Franklin, while GTA 6 will feature Jason and Lucia. However, the couple’s connection will be a lot deeper and more nuanced than the previous trio’s friendship.
How Rockstar Games tried to make GTA 6 protagonists lovable
In the same IGN interview, Rockstar North’s co-studio head Rob Nelson also touched on how the creative team managed to balance Jason and Lucia. The developers aimed to make them both lovable, as a team and individually. Fans should be able to enjoy doing missions where both are involved, but also have fun while controlling only one of them.
Rob said:
“But then the question became: how do you make players feel like, ‘I love them both?’ Chemistry is a notoriously hard thing to do in any sort of entertainment. Everyone involved worked at that pretty hard. I think we’ve got it. I think we’ve got enough reaction within our team internally to where they feel great as individuals and together.”
Rockstar Games recently dropped GTA 6 Extended Look on Netflix and YouTube, which dives deeper into the couple’s relationship mechanics. The game is set to release on November 19, 2026.
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Edited by Akshat Kabra
