Rockstar’s Winning Formula for GTA 6—and the Reason It Won’t Leave America

Rockstar Games co-founder and former Vice President, Dan Houser once claimed, GTA isn’t about America, it’s about Americana. It’s the America that was sold to the world”. This statement describes the true essence of GTA games, that have been completely successful in shaping narratives about the new age America. For more than two decades, Rockstar Games have been successful in making games that represent the idea of America past and present. Rockstar’s games are commercially successful games that fans love and the media often talks about. They’re not just popular or game changing, but they also tell powerful stories about America and its extremes.

Recently, a post on ‘X’ by the user ‘Dexerto’, revealed a statement from a former Rockstar technical director who says that “a Grand Theft Auto set in Europe is “not realistic” “They’ll revisit New York again. They’ll go back to LA or maybe Las Vegas. I’m afraid we’re stuck in this loop of about five American cities”.

A former Rockstar technical director has said a Grand Theft Auto set in Europe is “not realistic”

“They’ll revisit New York again. They’ll go back to LA or maybe Las Vegas. I’m afraid we’re stuck in this loop of about five American cities”

via Gameshub pic.twitter.com/2WqZ8lMfT0

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 5, 2026

The post talks about GTA games being stuck in about five American cities, but somehow that’s the way it is for the GTA Series of games that includes hits like GTA 5, GTA 4, GTA San Andreas and GTA Vice City.

Rockstar’s Obsession for America and GTA Games

Rockstar Games’ GTA Series of games in particular is a cultural marvel that is a satire and is extremely successful in reflecting American history, culture, and consumerism. GTA Games have always shown the dark side of the American Dream, where there is an immense focus on greed, corruption, and chasing money through crime in settings inspired by the US cities. Los Angeles in San Andreas and New York in GTA 4 are the two cities that have been showcased in a similar way in GTA games.

Rockstar’s billion-dollar formula includes creating games that continue to push Rockstar into spotlight, and the games that made this possible for Rockstar are games like GTA 5 and GTA San Andreas from the popular GTA Series. These games have been set in real or fictionalized urban and rural American spaces, where Rockstar has managed to create gameplay experiences around narratives that are, in one way or the other seen as “classically American”. So, what’s the point of taking GTA Series of games away from America, when they completely belong to the place they are set in.

A possible thought that comes in is Why Can’t GTA Games Move Away from America? The reason lies in the way these games have been created and set. GTA games always feature a captivating storyline that features a strong protagonist like Michael or Trevor, who gets indulged in chasing fortunes, and all throughout the game Rockstar Games focuses on portraying the darker, cynical side of achieving the American Dream through crime. The controversial part in the entire story is that despite the games being set in rural and urban America, Rockstar Games successfully offers a satirical, often critical, outsider’s view of the American society. So, what would be a GTA game without a character like Niko Belic in Grand Theft Auto 4, who is an eastern European immigrant arriving in Liberty city, only to find out how difficult it is to live the American dream.

GTA games use real-world aspects like consumer culture, political climates, media excess, and social issues, as backdrops for their narratives, and this is what makes these games alive and exciting. Some GTA fans are okay with London as a location for GTA games, but most of them believe that there is no GTA beyond America. What’s your take on this? Rockstar Games has achieved enough success with GTA Series and American Dream formula, and the fans believe that they would not put their billion-dollar formula at risk by trying out new locations that would not match with the current representation of GTA games. It would be like exploring a whole new domain, where a new concept and a new setting would change what GTA games are really known for.

GTA 6 is the next entry in the GTA Series of games, and the hype around the game reveals the success rate of their old and repetitive billion-dollar formula. GTA fans are excited to see a female protagonist in a GTA game for the first time, and GTA 6 is here to stay for a long-long time. GTA 6 brings a familiar context and its hype is not restricted to its gameplay, as the fans are really excited to go back to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City. If this kind of content and setting builds hype for any upcoming GTA game, then do you think Rockstar Games would ever move to a location where the context of living the American Dream doesn’t fit in any way?

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