GTA 6 follows Red Dead Redemption 2's chapter model, Rockstar confirms

GTA 5 let you bounce freely between three protagonists with no real chapter breaks. GTA 6 is doing something closer to what Red Dead Redemption 2 did, and Rockstar just confirmed it directly.

In a recent interview with French outlet Trois Couleurs, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson confirmed that GTA 6 is built around a chapter structure, following the model Red Dead Redemption 2 used to carry Arthur Morgan's story to its conclusion.

Nelson didn't say how many chapters GTA 6 will have, how many RDR2 epilogues there are (six plus two), or how long each one runs.

In his video, Nelson starts at the beginning with Rupert Humphries, Rockstar Games' Senior Vice President of Narrative. According to Nelson, Humphries provides a description that spans about one-and-a-half pages and covers the origins of characters, what happens to them and what forces them to move on.

From here on, the team reverses their steps and comes up with missions and set-pieces for this progression.

Nelson ensured that the game’s structure and player agency remain two separate elements. Once the big moments are nailed down, the developers start to think about what happens when the player moves away from the plot and what will happen if GTA 6 allows for the "off the rails" movement as he referred to it.

This means that these chapters act more like pacing devices rather than solid structures, allowing Rockstar to direct the story’s momentum and move players around the map without compromising on the series’ openness.