GTA 6 may already be using AI-powered animation technology, says San Andreas developer: “If anyone is going to take this step, it’s Rockstar”
According to a veteran Rockstar developer, GTA 6 may have already fired the first shot of an upcoming AI animation “revolution.”
In an interview with SanInPlay, San Andreas and GTA 3 developer Obbe Vermeij said that the scene from the GTA6 What impressed him most was the beach scene in the trailer, where “everyone seems to be doing something different. Each character has their own animation.”
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It is certainly a very detailed scene. So detailed that Vermeij believes Rockstar may have helped create it. He says he has “heard some rumors that (GTA 6) uses pretty new technology that has to do with animation and AI and all that stuff.” Vermeij does not seem to have any evidence for this, but it is fair to say that the publisher of GTA 6, Take-Two is not exactly afraid of AIIn June, CEO Strauss Zelnick said the technology would allow Rockstar developers to “do a lot of things more efficiently.” He also dismissed concerns that AI would hurt developers, saying, “I don’t believe for a second that generative AI is going to reduce jobs.”
This view is of course not particularly popular in some parts of the industry – Video game actors are currently on strike in the hope of more protection from AI. GTA 6 will not be affected by these strikesbut the technology has undoubtedly caused divisions in the industry.
Vermeij seems to believe this is inevitable, and that AI is perhaps overdue. “I think it’s time for a revolution where animations are perhaps no longer animated by hand, but are more AI and physics driven.” Crucially, what Vermeij is espousing is not entirely new – he points out that “we did some of this in GTA 4.” That history is part of why he feels that “if anyone is going to make that move (towards AI animation), it’s going to be Rockstar.”
Vermeij has made quite a name for himself in GTA circles this year by talking about his own experiences at Rockstar as well as his predictions for GTA 6. Of these, the suggestion that GTA 6 may not be “totally” different from GTA 5 is perhaps his most surprising statement, but it will probably be some time before we find out if he’s right, as GTA 6 is still more than a year away.
The setting of GTA 6 is Vice City, which is more beautiful than ever – and a rural Florida that is just as chaotic as the real.
