As Rockstar continues to give nothing away about GTA 6, notoriously chatty Vice City and San Andreas dev thinks "secrecy is a good thing" as knowing too much "ruins the experience"
"When the game comes out it will be truly exciting"
Since its first and only trailer over a year ago, Rockstar has refused to show us any more of the enigma that is GTA 6. While everyone has been begging for a fresh look at it, however, one particularly talkative former Rockstar dev suggests that the lack of information "really works" overall
Obbe Vermeij served as Rockstar Games' technical director between 1995 and 2009, with credits on GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA 4. While he's not been at the studio for some time now, he's very open when it comes to giving away information about his time there and his work on those classic installments – so much so that other Rockstar devs previously prompted him to shut his entire blog down after revealing details about cancelled games. With that in mind, when he was asked on Twitter about what he made of the studio's continued level of secrecy, he shared some interesting (but rather ironic) thoughts on the matter.
"With upcoming games I think secrecy is a good thing. Knowing too much about a game long before it comes out ruins the experience," Vermeij argues. "A good example is the new Indiana Jones game. They kept a low profile and didn't do a lot of marketing. Then when the game comes out it is surprising and fresh.
"This really works for R* with GTA 6," he continues. "Because there is not much info out there, anticipation grows and when the game comes out it will be truly exciting."
Although Vermeij is all for the studio remaining quiet when it comes to its upcoming releases, he suggests it "could be a bit more relaxed when it comes to the older games," adding: "It would be nice to hear a bit more from the people still at R* that worked on them." Considering his own stance on sharing details from the days of old, it's definitely not surprising to hear him say this.
Overall though, this is a similar sort of stance as one recently shared by former Rockstar dev Mike York, who worked as an animator on GTA 5. He recently spoke on his YouTube channel about how Rockstar's secrecy is "a really cool tactic, in a sense," since it creates a sense of "mystery" and prompts fans to discuss things amongst themselves without the studio even having to do anything. This also leads to the "really cool theories" fans come up with about existing in-game secrets, as well as conspiracies about when the next GTA 6 trailer will be released, he argues.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.