How the success of Red Dead Redemption could affect the development of GTA 6

On the back of the GTA franchise's success, and even Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games has clout unlike any other publisher in the industry.

Over the past couple of decades, Rockstar has not only staked its claim as one of the premier publishers in the AAA space but put it past the point of debate.

Perhaps no other game in the company's history has had the kind of built-up hype and anticipation as GTA 6. While there is a certain level of assured success with its release, the stakes are also similarly high for the studio to deliver.

As evidenced by the recent release of Cyberpunk 2077, hype and unrealistic expectations from a game can work against the product. On the other hand, Rockstar has proven that it is no stranger to delivering on high expectations time and time again with Red Dead Redemption 2.

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What the success of Red Dead Redemption means for GTA 6

It is safe to say that the development of Red Dead Redemption 2 was an extremely tumultuous and rocky period for Rockstar. The company went through a transformative process as much was made in gaming media about the studio's work culture and issues relating to crunch.

Since then, Rockstar has made major headway related to improvements in work culture. Needless to say, GTA 6 is going to be a monumental task in development, and the developer cannot afford to have another public outcry, like with Red Dead Redemption.

18 months after Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar has made some big cultural changes https://t.co/i4G8MXgEhs pic.twitter.com/lhjgm4iYe5

— Kotaku (@Kotaku) April 15, 2020

Creatively, Red Dead Redemption 2 paid off in a big way as it was hailed as one of Rockstar's most tonally consistent and well-made games to date. The level of polish and detail on display quickly propelled it to become one of the biggest criticals and commercials successes of 2018.

Therefore, Rockstar will be looking to take the positive learnings from Red Dead Redemption 2's game design and incorporate it into GTA 6, especially when it comes to tone. The GTA franchise has notoriously had issues with this aspect.

Even though Dan Houser's absence as the Head Writer will be felt across the board, Rockstar has made it a habit of delivering with release, and fans can expect the same with GTA 6.