GTA 6 protagonists reportedly cut in bid to scale game down

Following the news that the GTA 6 protagonists will be a dynamic duo reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde, a brief new report surfaced that said there used to be even more heroes in the crime game, or anti-heroes depending on your perspective. Axios’ Stephen Totilo followed up on Bloomberg’s initial report and said his sources previously told him Rockster planned on having four GTA 6 protagonists. The original plan was reportedly also to include three cities. Bloomberg’s report said GTA 6 will take place in one city at launch – Miami – with future updates adding more locations after release.

Totilo said the team scaled GTA 6 down to help streamline development, which would seem to check out with previous rumors of troubled production and purported project resets. And it still leaves room for additional playable characters in those future updates, depending on how much of Rockstar’s original story remains intact in those later content drops.

“Just one city” might seem like a downgrade compared to the earlier goal, but there are some indications GTA 6’s Miami could be rather more exciting than it sounds. Recent developments in Grand Theft Auto Online have ties, however tenuous, to GTA Vice City, as both open with warnings of dangerous tropical weather approaching.

Having two protagonists, on the other hand, is frankly a much more enticing prospect than four or more. GTA 5’s three protagonists and disparate stories were good, true, but focusing on just two heroes with a connected plot means more chances for stronger character development and a plot that’s different from what GTA normally comes out with.

Whatever the case, we’ll have to wait quite a while before finding out for sure. The Bloomberg report, which Totilo corroborated, said GTA 6 likely won’t release until 2024.