Rockstar has confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch without microtransactions or generative AI.
The confirmation came during a group conversation with Kinda Funny Games ahead of the GTA 6: Extended Look, where Kinda Funny’s Andy Cortez asked whether players would be able to spend real money on in-game purchases.
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GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto 6) – Official Extended Gameplay.Watch on YouTube
Rockstar said there are “no monetisations in this game”, and Greg Miller followed up, asking “point-blank” whether generative AI had been used anywhere in GTA 6’s development. Rockstar told him there’s “no AI” in the game, either (thanks, IGN).
Earlier this year, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar Games, reportedly laid off its AI team, including its head of AI. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has previously plainly stated that AI is incapable of creativity of its own, but it was his strongest message yet that Take-Two’s approach to AI bucks an industry trend that has seen more and more studios pivot to AI tools, most recently at the cost of human translators and human-made in-game artwork.
Zelnick is very much an outlier, though. Many other game companies, including Krafton, Square Enix, EA, and more, have invested heavily in the new tech.
There will, however, be gated content in GTA 6’s Ultimate Edition. Priced at £90 – £20 above the £70 standard edition – it bundles in exclusive cosmetics, vehicles, weapons and even a handful of shops and services unavailable to standard edition owners, including the Electric Fang tattoo parlour and Stock 305 clothing store.
Rockstar’s own support page confirms standard edition owners will be able to buy the Ultimate Edition upgrade separately after redeeming their copy, with the bonus content “threaded across all aspects of Jason and Lucia’s story” and unlocked chapter by chapter.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is due out on 19th November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. This week’s GTA 6 bonanza revealed a wealth of new information about the game, such as a changed Wanted system, a changed carjacking system, a new romance system, a huge game world, and a list of in-game activities.
This is what a billion dollars gets you, observed Chris Donlan, though as Chris Tapsell pointed out, this push towards realism and away from easy-going fun is a huge risk for the series – even if, he argued, it’s ultimately right that it takes it.