{"id":2180693,"date":"2026-10-05T20:14:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2180693"},"modified":"2026-10-05T20:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:14:26","slug":"gta-6-devs-tried-not-to-jump-on-the-bandwagon-of-passing-trends-and-instead-created-their-own-slanted-overblown-versions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2180693","title":{"rendered":"GTA 6 devs tried &#8220;not to jump on the bandwagon&#8221; of passing trends and instead created their &#8220;own slanted, overblown versions&#8221;"},"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\">GTA 6 devs tried &#8220;not to jump on the bandwagon&#8221; of passing trends and instead created their &#8220;own slanted, overblown versions&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">No Dubai Labubus, please.<\/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\/jason-lucia-gta-6-romance-relationship.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"A Hispanic man and woman in 70s club wear dance in a club closely together. It&apos;s Jason and Lucia from GTA 6. They look very into each other.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"jason-lucia-gta-6-romance-relationship.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>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=\"Kaan Serin avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1633424287.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=\"216\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Kaan Serin avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1633424287.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"216\">\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\/kaan-serin\">Kaan Serin<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-10-05T20:14:26+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Oct. 5, 2026, 8:14 p.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-devs-bandwagon-trends-created-slanted-versions?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          3 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"header_actions\">\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><br \/>\n  <a class=\"button outline wide preferred_source_button\" data-component=\"preferred-source-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=eurogamer.net\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"logo\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><br \/>\nPrioritise us on Google  <\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>Creating a timely satire can be tough when development takes half a decade or more &#8211; it&#8217;s the reason South Park&#8217;s stuck with its crude art style for literal decades, but the developers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-everything-we-know-so-far-9357\">GTA 6<\/a> can&#8217;t just replace their world-class tech with paper cutouts. Instead, the team simply tried to avoid trends that would become outdated come launch.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We work on it for years and years,&#8221; Rockstar&#8217;s senior vice president of narrative, Rupert Humphries, told <a href=\"https:\/\/kdpresse.com\/en\/products\/love-n-27\">Love Magazine<\/a>, &#8220;so you need to make content that will feel vital to the moment of release. If there&#8217;s a trend blowing up for six months, you need to see it for what it is and not jump on the bandwagon.&#8221; While South Park can centre an entire episode on demonic Labubus and squeeze out some laughs while they&#8217;re still hot, GTA doesn&#8217;t quite have the same luxury.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than betting on memes that expired years ago, Rockstar leaned into &#8220;things that interested us, like conspiracy theories,&#8221; Humphries added. &#8220;The strange ways the public reacts to everyday occurrences, and those are the kinds of things we ran with. In most cases, rather than trying to put a like-for-like of something real in the world, we have created our own slanted, overblown versions, be that a conspiracy theory, or another universal contemporary phenomenon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Grand Theft Auto&#8217;s always been a darkly satirical series, but it frequently tackles tougher subjects too. One notable constant is how the series deals with the American Dream and how the public&#8217;s attitude toward the American Dream has shifted through the years.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Asked about the subject, Humphries explained that GTA 4 was already a &#8220;kind of hollow commentary on the illusion of America as a land of opportunity,&#8221; while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/grand-theft-auto-v\">GTA 5<\/a>&#8216;s overwhelming cynicism was a sort-of doubling down on the idea. What about today&#8217;s world? And GTA 6&#8217;s? &#8220;Maybe the American Dream is more modest now,&#8221; Humphries added. &#8220;It&#8217;s a house for your family and your loans paid off instead of wild success &#8211; but maybe today, that is just out of reach for the average person. Miami and Southern Florida are a particular frontline for this battle between astronomical wealth and unbounded ambition, creating a pressure cooker for all kinds of insanity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Humphries stops short of explaining what GTA 6&#8217;s take on the American Dream is exactly, but his interpretation might certainly be a clue to Jason and Lucia&#8217;s motivations. Perhaps they&#8217;re not chasing excessive, bottomless pools of cash with no end in sight like the GTA protagonists before them. We&#8217;ll find out when GTA 6 launches next month on the 19th of November.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>Creating a timely satire can be tough when development takes half a decade or more &#8211; it&#8217;s the reason South Park&#8217;s stuck with its crude art style for literal decades, but the developers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/gta-6-everything-we-know-so-far-9357\">GTA 6<\/a> can&#8217;t just replace their world-class tech with paper cutouts. Instead, the team simply tried to avoid trends that would become outdated come launch.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We work on it for years and years,&#8221; Rockstar&#8217;s senior vice president of narrative, Rupert Humphries, told <a href=\"https:\/\/kdpresse.com\/en\/products\/love-n-27\">Love Magazine<\/a>, &#8220;so you need to make content that will feel vital to the moment of release. If there&#8217;s a trend blowing up for six months, you need to see it for what it is and not jump on the bandwagon.&#8221; While South Park can centre an entire episode on demonic Labubus and squeeze out some laughs while they&#8217;re still hot, GTA doesn&#8217;t quite have the same luxury.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than betting on memes that expired years ago, Rockstar leaned into &#8220;things that interested us, like conspiracy theories,&#8221; Humphries added. &#8220;The strange ways the public reacts to everyday occurrences, and those are the kinds of things we ran with. In most cases, rather than trying to put a like-for-like of something real in the world, we have created our own slanted, overblown versions, be that a conspiracy theory, or another universal contemporary phenomenon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Grand Theft Auto&#8217;s always been a darkly satirical series, but it frequently tackles tougher subjects too. One notable constant is how the series deals with the American Dream and how the public&#8217;s attitude toward the American Dream has shifted through the years.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Asked about the subject, Humphries explained that GTA 4 was already a &#8220;kind of hollow commentary on the illusion of America as a land of opportunity,&#8221; while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/grand-theft-auto-v\">GTA 5<\/a>&#8216;s overwhelming cynicism was a sort-of doubling down on the idea. What about today&#8217;s world? And GTA 6&#8217;s? &#8220;Maybe the American Dream is more modest now,&#8221; Humphries added. &#8220;It&#8217;s a house for your family and your loans paid off instead of wild success &#8211; but maybe today, that is just out of reach for the average person. Miami and Southern Florida are a particular frontline for this battle between astronomical wealth and unbounded ambition, creating a pressure cooker for all kinds of insanity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Humphries stops short of explaining what GTA 6&#8217;s take on the American Dream is exactly, but his interpretation might certainly be a clue to Jason and Lucia&#8217;s motivations. Perhaps they&#8217;re not chasing excessive, bottomless pools of cash with no end in sight like the GTA protagonists before them. We&#8217;ll find out when GTA 6 launches next month on the 19th of November.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Grand Theft Auto VI GTA 6 devs tried &#8220;not to jump on the bandwagon&#8221; of passing trends and instead created their &#8220;own slanted, overblown versions&#8221; No Dubai Labubus, please. Image credit: Rockstar Games News by Kaan Serin Contributor Published on Oct. 5, 2026, 8:14 p.m. 3 comments Follow Grand Theft Auto VI Prioritise [&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-2180693","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\/2180693","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=2180693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2180693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2180693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2180693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}