A former Rockstar Games producer explained why PC versions usually come out much later than console versions.
In an interview with YouTuber KiwiTalkz, former Rockstar Games producer John Ricchio explained that starting on consoles and moving to PC is actually easier. Since consoles are more limited, it’s easier to start with a less powerful option and scale up rather than making a PC game and trying to scale it down.
“It’s always better to start with restrictions and then expand them,” Ricchio said. “Because it’s much harder to compress than to expand. It’s a lot harder to make your game perform than just saying, “Oh, we have extra space? Cool, we can de-optimize or make things shinier.”
Screenshots of GTA 6 Ultimate Edition
He also noted that when he worked at Rockstar in the early 2010s, there was a lot of talk about the value of resources. For example, during the game’s development, there was a build of Red Dead Redemption for PC, although the PC port was not released until more than ten years after launch. However, the team had to decide whether a PC version of Red Dead Redemption would be more valuable than letting people play Grand Theft Auto 5.
“It’s always these conversations,” he said. “You know, it’s never any specific, anti-any platform. It’s just that it’s worth the time and effort to get something running on Switch or something, or Wii, who knows? And I think you’ll have to make these calls for every game, and in many cases there are legitimate hardware limitations, right?
“But over time I feel like consoles have definitely gotten closer, so it’s not that bad, but it usually just comes down to, ‘If you’re working on this, you’re not working on anything else,’ generally.” And so if you spend money on this, you don’t spend money on anything else. it’s like, “Oh, this will be really easy to do.” And this is rarely very easy; There’s always something you need to do.”
Some fans were hoping that the growing popularity of the PC over the past decade would push Rockstar to release a PC version of GTA 6 on day one. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Sure, Rockstar has thousands of employees and about a dozen studios, but when you’re trying to create one of the most ambitious games of all time, Ricchio’s argument about where to invest resources is probably still an important factor. It’s likely a team effort to get the game out on time and in good condition.
Grand Craft Auto 6 will be released on November 19 for Xbox Series X|S and PS5.
Cade Onder is a freelancer on the IGN news team. It covers all things entertainment including gaming, movies and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.