{"id":2046573,"date":"2026-07-16T13:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2046573"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:11:51","slug":"its-not-that-we-dont-care-about-pc-former-rockstar-developer-suggests-why-gta-6-is-only-coming-to-consoles-at-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2046573","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It&#8217;s not that we don&#8217;t care about PC&#8221; &#8211; Former Rockstar developer suggests why GTA 6 is only coming to consoles at launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/grand-theft-auto-vi\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Grand Theft Auto VI<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not that we don&#8217;t care about PC&#8221; &#8211; Former Rockstar developer suggests why GTA 6 is only coming to consoles at launch<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Better to start with consoles&#8217; &#8220;constraints&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/gta-6-trailer-city.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"GTA 6 protagonists Lucia and Jason superimposed over GTA 6&apos;s Vice City and its adjacent beach.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"gta-6-trailer-city.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Rockstar Games<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Matt Wales avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1521645425.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Matt Wales avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1521645425.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/matt-wales\">Matt Wales<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-07-16T13:11:51+00:00\">July 16, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-rockstar-pc-consoles-release?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          16 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"7685df9e-22e2-4b0e-a893-03c1781df5f1\" data-name=\"Grand Theft Auto VI\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Grand Theft Auto VI\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Grand Theft Auto VI\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Grand Theft Auto VI\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Grand Theft Auto VI\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Grand Theft Auto VI\" title=\"Follow Grand Theft Auto VI\"><br \/>\n  Follow Grand Theft Auto VI<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-everything-we-know-so-far-9357\">GTA 6<\/a> is looming like that monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, casting its fearsome shadow over the games industry and probably also scaring some monkeys. But PC players won&#8217;t be able to join in the fun when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/rockstar-games\">Rockstar Games<\/a>&#8216; mega-sequel launches on 19th November, and former studio producer John Ricchio &#8211; who worked on the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/grand-theft-auto-v\">GTA 5<\/a>, Red Dead Redemption, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/max-payne-3\">Max Payne 3<\/a> &#8211; has shared some insight into why that may be.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IK39id7-opI\">lengthy, all-encompassing chat with YouTuber KiwiTalkz<\/a> (thanks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/gta-6s-lack-of-a-pc-port-isnt-out-of-greed-according-to-a-former-rockstar-producer\">IGN<\/a>), Ricchio explained that while many developers have traditionally favoured a PC-first approach and then scaled down to consoles, &#8220;It just causes so [many] problems down at the end&#8221;. Instead, as is seemingly Rockstar&#8217;s approach, it&#8217;s better to start with consoles and their &#8220;constraints&#8221;, because &#8220;shrinking is a lot harder than extending &#8230; It&#8217;s way harder to make your game performant than it is to just be like &#8216;Oh, we&#8217;ve got extra room? Cool, we can de-optimise some things, or make them more shiny.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto 6) - Official Trailer 2\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sQEGy86F2gE?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/sQEGy86F2gE\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto 6) &#8211; Official Trailer 2<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s GTA 6&#8217;s second trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sQEGy86F2gE\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ricchio also noted, &#8220;It&#8217;s never any specific anti-any platform [thing]&#8221; but rather a question of resources: &#8220;Is it worth spending the time and effort to get something running on [different machines]? &#8230; It just becomes about, &#8216;If you&#8217;re working on that, you&#8217;re not working on something else,&#8217; usually.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>By way of example, he recalled that Rockstar produced an early PC build of Red Dead Redemption while it was developing the console versions back in 2010 &#8211; some 14 years before the acclaimed game would eventually get a PC release &#8211; to see how much work it would take. &#8220;It&#8217;s not that we don&#8217;t care about PC; it was just, &#8216;Is it worth spending time getting a PC port going versus working on GTA 5&#8217;. It&#8217;s always those conversations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re spending money on that,&#8221; Ricchio elaborated, &#8220;you&#8217;re not spending money on something else. And so that&#8217;s where the business case has to be there. There has to be enough of a business reason to do some of those ports, or the lift has to be so light that it&#8217;\u2019s like, &#8216;Oh, it&#8217;ll be super easy to do.&#8217; And it&#8217;s rarely super light; there&#8217;s always something that you&#8217;ve got to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rockstar and parent company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/take-two-interactive\">Take-Two Interactive<\/a> have remained cagey about a PC version of GTA 6, although the assumption is it&#8217;ll follow a similar trajectory to GTA 5, arriving at a later date &#8211; although hopefully a little more promptly than the 18-month wait PC players endured for that game. PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S players, meanwhile, can head to Vice City and beyond starting 19th November &#8211; just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/grand-theft-auto-6-preorders-gta6-no-disc\">don&#8217;t expect a proper physical, on-disc release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-everything-we-know-so-far-9357\">GTA 6<\/a> is looming like that monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, casting its fearsome shadow over the games industry and probably also scaring some monkeys. But PC players won&#8217;t be able to join in the fun when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/rockstar-games\">Rockstar Games<\/a>&#8216; mega-sequel launches on 19th November, and former studio producer John Ricchio &#8211; who worked on the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/grand-theft-auto-v\">GTA 5<\/a>, Red Dead Redemption, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/max-payne-3\">Max Payne 3<\/a> &#8211; has shared some insight into why that may be.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IK39id7-opI\">lengthy, all-encompassing chat with YouTuber KiwiTalkz<\/a> (thanks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/gta-6s-lack-of-a-pc-port-isnt-out-of-greed-according-to-a-former-rockstar-producer\">IGN<\/a>), Ricchio explained that while many developers have traditionally favoured a PC-first approach and then scaled down to consoles, &#8220;It just causes so [many] problems down at the end&#8221;. Instead, as is seemingly Rockstar&#8217;s approach, it&#8217;s better to start with consoles and their &#8220;constraints&#8221;, because &#8220;shrinking is a lot harder than extending &#8230; It&#8217;s way harder to make your game performant than it is to just be like &#8216;Oh, we&#8217;ve got extra room? Cool, we can de-optimise some things, or make them more shiny.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto 6) - Official Trailer 2\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sQEGy86F2gE?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/sQEGy86F2gE\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto 6) &#8211; Official Trailer 2<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s GTA 6&#8217;s second trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sQEGy86F2gE\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ricchio also noted, &#8220;It&#8217;s never any specific anti-any platform [thing]&#8221; but rather a question of resources: &#8220;Is it worth spending the time and effort to get something running on [different machines]? &#8230; It just becomes about, &#8216;If you&#8217;re working on that, you&#8217;re not working on something else,&#8217; usually.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>By way of example, he recalled that Rockstar produced an early PC build of Red Dead Redemption while it was developing the console versions back in 2010 &#8211; some 14 years before the acclaimed game would eventually get a PC release &#8211; to see how much work it would take. &#8220;It&#8217;s not that we don&#8217;t care about PC; it was just, &#8216;Is it worth spending time getting a PC port going versus working on GTA 5&#8217;. It&#8217;s always those conversations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re spending money on that,&#8221; Ricchio elaborated, &#8220;you&#8217;re not spending money on something else. And so that&#8217;s where the business case has to be there. There has to be enough of a business reason to do some of those ports, or the lift has to be so light that it&#8217;\u2019s like, &#8216;Oh, it&#8217;ll be super easy to do.&#8217; And it&#8217;s rarely super light; there&#8217;s always something that you&#8217;ve got to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rockstar and parent company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/take-two-interactive\">Take-Two Interactive<\/a> have remained cagey about a PC version of GTA 6, although the assumption is it&#8217;ll follow a similar trajectory to GTA 5, arriving at a later date &#8211; although hopefully a little more promptly than the 18-month wait PC players endured for that game. PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S players, meanwhile, can head to Vice City and beyond starting 19th November &#8211; just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/grand-theft-auto-6-preorders-gta6-no-disc\">don&#8217;t expect a proper physical, on-disc release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Grand Theft Auto VI &#8220;It&#8217;s not that we don&#8217;t care about PC&#8221; &#8211; Former Rockstar developer suggests why GTA 6 is only coming to consoles at launch Better to start with consoles&#8217; &#8220;constraints&#8221;. Image credit: Eurogamer\/Rockstar Games News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on July 16, 2026 16 comments Follow Grand Theft [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2046573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2046573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2046573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2046573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2046573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}