Who makes GTA 6? Rockstar's GTA 6 development team

The studio list below is Rockstar’s own; the leadership, headcount and engine details come from reporting. The wider story is on the GTA 6 development hub.

Who owns GTA 6?

Take-Two Interactive owns Rockstar Games, and with it GTA 6. Take-Two announced the game’s prices and editions in a June 24, 2026 press release and reports on it in its quarterly earnings.

GTA 6 development team: Rockstar North and the other studios

Bloomberg reported that Rockstar North in Edinburgh leads development. Rockstar’s careers page lists these studios: Rockstar North (Edinburgh), Rockstar New York, Rockstar San Diego (Carlsbad), Rockstar Toronto (Oakville), Rockstar New England (Andover), Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar Lincoln, Rockstar London, Rockstar Dundee, Rockstar India (Bengaluru), Rockstar Australia (Sydney), Rockstar LA and Rockstar International.

Bloomberg also reported a dedicated Los Angeles studio for NPC writing, animation and production.

Who are the GTA 6 developers in charge?

Bloomberg named three heads of development who led the work after Dan Houser left:

• Rob Nelson: of Rockstar North. He played the game for about 90 minutes for Edge’s cover story, published October 29, 2026.
• Aaron Garbut: also of Rockstar North. He told the New York Times the game has more than 600,000 hand-made animations, and told Bloomberg the 2022 leak felt “weirdly invasive”; see GTA 6 leaks.
• Phil Hooker: told Bloomberg the delays came from parts not coming together on schedule rather than from one crisis.

Who writes GTA 6?

LOVE magazine’s GTA 6 cover issue, on sale October 5, 2026, interviewed narrative lead Rupert Humphries and writers Elizabeth Gauvey-Kern and Alexa D’Agostino. Dan Houser, Rockstar’s VP Creative and a longtime GTA co-writer, left the company; his last day was March 11, 2020, according to a Take-Two SEC filing. He now runs Absurd Ventures.

How big is the GTA 6 dev team?

Rockstar has not given a figure. Bloomberg reported in October 2026 that Rockstar had about 4,711 employees across 12 offices, up from about 2,441 when Red Dead Redemption 2 launched; that is the whole company, not only GTA 6. Dazed reported that the development team has more than doubled since Red Dead Redemption 2, which reportedly had about 1,600 developers.

Those staff numbers sit behind the budget estimates in GTA 6 cost to make, and the years they worked are counted in how long GTA 6 has been in development.

What engine does GTA 6 use?

GTA 6 is reported to run on RAGE, the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, used since GTA 4, in a version understood to evolve the Red Dead Redemption 2-era technology. Rockstar’s GTA 6 marketing does not name the engine. Rockstar’s leads told Bloomberg they will keep it for the next game; see GTA 7 release date.

GTA 6 developer union news: the 2025 firings dispute

In 2025 Rockstar dismissed 31 UK staff. The workers and their union, the IWGB, say the firings were union-busting; Rockstar says the staff shared confidential information in a public forum and that union activity had nothing to do with it. In January 2026 an employment judge refused the workers interim pay, and the full hearing at the Glasgow Employment Tribunal opened on September 10, 2026, with closing arguments reported for November 17 and 18.

The IWGB has also announced a union recognition ballot for Rockstar’s UK staff from November 12 to 26, 2026. Jennifer Kolbe, Rockstar’s head of publishing, reportedly told Bloomberg that management would respect the result.