GTA 6 is unsurprisingly Rockstar Games’ most ambitious project yet, and expectations surrounding the game are already incredibly high. Rockstar has spent years building its version of Leonida and Vice City, and recent details have shown just how much work is going into areas that many players might barely notice during normal gameplay.

That attention to detail apparently extends all the way down to conversations between random pedestrians. Rockstar developers have revealed that GTA 6 has a dedicated team of writers specifically working on pedestrian dialogue. This includes a “specific team of pedestrian dialogue writers in LA and then a team of advertising and comedy writers across New York, LA, and London.

Speaking to Love magazine, Rockstar Games senior vice president of narrative Rupert Humphries explained that the studio has an entire group of writers and creatives responsible for what could normally be considered background noise. This includes a dedicated pedestrian dialogue writing team in Los Angeles, while advertising and comedy writers are spread across New York, Los Angeles, and London.

Background chat is an important part of the game

Rockstar doesn’t really consider this pedestrian talk to be simple background content. Humphries explained that all of these conversations, jokes, advertisements, and other small details contribute to making GTA 6’s world feel alive. The writers also come from different backgrounds, giving the team more perspectives to draw from when making fun of human behavior, advertising, and the media.

The scale of the work becomes more interesting when considering how players actually experience a GTA game. You might be driving through Vice City at high speed and only hear a few seconds of a conversation between pedestrians before disappearing down another street. Rockstar still wants that brief interaction to sound convincing.

Open world writing director James Horton explained that the studio has “dreamed a lot bigger this time around.” GTA 6 is being designed so players can hear pieces of many different conversations while moving through a crowded area, but those conversations should continue to feel believable if the player suddenly stops and decides to listen.

“No one you meet is an extra; they’re not only full characters, everyone you meet is the main character in their own story,” says Horton, arguing that the traditional idea of background characters doesn’t completely apply to GTA 6. From Rockstar’s perspective, something is only in the background until the player decides to pay attention to it. A random pedestrian can suddenly become the focus simply because the player chooses to stop and watch what they’re doing.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.