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GTA 6 doesn't have to be romantic if you don't choose to engage with it that way, and we can thank the best man in video games, Red Dead Redemption 2's Arthur Morgan, for that.
While Grand Theft Auto 6 follows the two central characters of Jason and Lucia, the game never really forces their relationship in directions that aren't steered by the player. Jason and Lucia can become romantically tangled if you choose or they can remain partners in crime. Or they can become a romantic couple and then break up entirely.
"We start them wanting to be together, and wanting to give this relationship of theirs another shot. But, as the game progresses, it's yours to keep or yours to lose," co-studio head and lead developer Rob Nelson explained while speaking to the latest issue of Edge Magazine.
A huge part of GTA 6 is also having these characters feel like they have interiority separate from the player themselves. "These games, maybe some people think 'oh, they're power fantasies'. Sure," Nelson said. "But what if these characters want something else?"
According to the developer, that question first popped up during the development of Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar Games' huge open worlds almost always throw excessive amounts of in-game money at the player, but the studio's Western sequel made players think a little harder about where they want to spend that cash.
"Do I go and spend it on myself, on cool outfits and horses and saddles? Or do I go and give it to my adopted family in the gang?" Nelson explained that the devs wanted people to feel Arthur Morgan's internal "selfishness versus selflessness" struggle wherever they were, even outside of cutscenes - Arthur Morgan can't escape himself, he's Arthur Morgan "all the time."
And that's eventually how Rockstar landed on the push and pull between GTA 6's central couple. You can nudge these characters closer together by holding hands and such, but ignore one too many late-night phone calls from your partner and things may go awry.
