GTA 6 might already be using AI-powered animation tech, says San Andreas dev: "If anyone is going to make that step it's going to be Rockstar"

GTA 6 could have already fired the first shot in an upcoming AI animation “revolution,” according to one veteran Rockstar developer.

In an interview with SanInPlay, San Andreas and GTA 3 developer Obbe Vermeij said that the scene from the GTA 6 trailer that he was most impressed by was the beach scene, in which “everybody seems to be doing something else. Every character has its own animation.”

ENTREVISTA com OBBE VERMEIJ – Ex-Desenvolvedor da Rockstar Games! (GTA San Andreas, GTA VC e Mais!) – YouTube
ENTREVISTA com OBBE VERMEIJ - Ex-Desenvolvedor da Rockstar Games! (GTA San Andreas, GTA VC e Mais!) - YouTube

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It’s certainly a very detailed scene. So detailed, in fact, that Vermeij thinks Rockstar might have had a helping hand in making it. He says he’s heard “some rumors of [GTA 6 using] pretty new technology having to do with animation and AI and all that stuff.” Vermeij doesn’t appear to have any proof of that, but it’s fair to say that GTA 6’s publisher, Take-Two, isn’t exactly shying away from AI. In June, CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested that the technology would allow Rockstar devs to “do a bunch of stuff more efficiently. He also dismissed concerns that AI would harm developers, saying that “I don’t think for a minute that generative AI is going to reduce employment.”

That’s not exactly a popular view in some sections of the industry, of course – video game actors are currently on strike, hoping to gain more protection from AI. GTA 6 won’t be affected by those strikes, but the technology has certainly proved divisive across the industry.

Vermeij seems to think it’s inevitable, and that perhaps AI is overdue. “I think it’s time for a revolution where animation is maybe not hand-animated anymore but it would be more AI-driven and physics-driven.” Crucially, what Vermeij is espousing is not entirely brand-new – he points out that “we did some of that in GTA 4.” That history is part of why he things that “if anyone is going to make that step [towards AI animation] it’s going to be Rockstar.

Vermeij has made a bit of a name for himself in GTA circles this year, talking about his own experiences at Rockstar, as well as his predictions for GTA 6. Of those, the suggestion that GTA 6 may not be “wildly different” from GTA 5 is perhaps his most surprising, but it’ll probably be some time before we find out if he’s right, as GTA 6 is still more than a full year away.

The GTA 6 location is a Vice City made prettier than ever – and a rural Florida that’s every bit as chaotic as the real thing.

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