Worried About GTA 6 Without Its Original Creators? Here's Why You Shouldn't Be

Grand Theft Auto 6 will be different from every Grand Theft Auto title before it, especially with Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies no longer part of the company. Judging from what we've seen so far with MindsEye, Benzies' first venture since leaving Rockstar Games in 2016 following a two-year sabbatical, this isn't really such a bad thing.

Benzies and Dan Houser played significant roles in the creative direction and writing of previous GTA titles. Although it's hard to quantify just how much impact these two had on each game, their absence from the development of GTA 6 had always been a concern.

However, Benzies' first project post-Rockstar, MindsEye, a AAA title made in the same mold as the best-selling open-world franchise, has fallen way short of expectations. MindsEye has less than 42% positive reviews on Steam with only a few thousand players enjoying it and the number has kept on dropping since its launch on June 10.

While we've no way to tell if Dan Houser's newest endeavor with Absurd Ventures and the Absurdaverse will suffer from the same fate, what this does tell us is that GTA, and Rockstar for that matter, is and likely has always been more than a sum of its individual parts.

Dan, alongside his brother, Sam Houser, has always been the two most dominant voices and driving forces at Rockstar. Benzies likely held a similarly significant role as the series' lead developer and president of Rockstar North.

However, like every other AAA project, making video games is a massively collaborative process. We likely won't know who's working on GTA 6 until after it comes out on May 26, 2026, but it's highly likely that many key creatives remain part of the company.

Rupert Humphries, the senior vice president of narrative at Rockstar North, for example, likely worked on the script of GTA 6 alongside Michael Unsworth, who left Rockstar in 2023 to join Dan at Absurd Ventures.

Humphries has worked on several GTA titles, as well as both Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2, alongside Unsworth and Dan Houser. Considering that Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely considered one of the best narrative-driven titles in video game history, there are few people you can trust more with the story of GTA 6.

Before we say that the departure of heavy hitters might have affected the quality of GTA 6, it's important to keep in mind the development timeline of GTA 6. Take-Two Interactive confirmed that development on the game began in earnest in 2020 but early work likely began way before then.

If we assume that the entire process took a decade if not longer, you can't blame some developers for leaving Rockstar once their work is finished. With that said, the work done on GTA 6 we've seen so far, especially following the release of the second trailer, has been nothing short of spectacular.

From the protagonists, Lucia and Jason, to the new characters, locations, and small details that most will definitely miss after their first watch, Rockstar has shown that GTA 6 will live up to even the loftiest expectations.

Sure, without Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies, GTA 6 will definitely be different - but sometimes, different is good. In GTA 6's case, being different might even be what makes it the best in the franchise yet.