Rockstar has a good reason for allowing twelve years between GTA games. According to the former Dragon Age boss, there are AAA games that aim to become a “cultural phenomenon”.

What do GTA 6 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard have in common? Although we are talking about completely different universes, the two titles have one thing in common: it takes more than ten years before their developers present us with a new part. GTA V was initially released in 2013, and the series returns in 2025 with the adventure of Lucy and Jason. Dragon Age: Inquisition conquered RPG fans in 2014 and will continue the experience in the fantasy world in 2024. According to a former BioWare franchise boss, this is partly because AAA games want to establish themselves as a cultural phenomenon.

Former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah recently discussed the issue on his YouTube channel (via GamesRadar+).

It’s true that AAA titles are inherently slow due to long development times. But there are a select handful of sagas whose development could take even longer. “One of the reasons why AAA games take as long as they do in some cases is simply because they can,” begins the pro. “They look at the market, they look at what they need to do, and they decide to prioritize having as large of an impact as possible over coming out in a timely manner.”

“Arguably, that’s what Rockstar does with GTA is they would rather have a game come out once every decade or longer and be a cultural phenomenon than try to reduce that time and potentially reduce their impact.” Obviously, things like the continued profitability of GTA V and GTA: Online come into play here. These continue to make hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and prevent Rockstar from going into the red.

As a result, “successful” franchises can wait years before releasing a new instalment because it might help “improve the impact of the future game.”

However, this phenomenon rarely occurs in the video game industry. As Darrah reminds us in his video, “there are lots of reasons why AAA games take a long time.” “Some of which make sense, some of which make sense if you sit in the C-suite, some of which honestly don’t make a ton of sense but are sort of built-in at this point almost due to expectations of the team, but also expectations from players that teams are scared of upsetting.”

The GTA series is also unique in that it incorporates comedy into the experiences

In fact, the Grand Theft Auto franchise is also unique in that it allows itself to incorporate comedy into the gaming experience in a very distinctive way. Of course we are talking about satire; about a device used to mock certain locations, eras, and even real people. This, along with the massive maps and immersive stories, make GTA one of the sagas worth waiting for.

Source: GamesRadar+, YouTube