Scrapped story “too dark” for GTA 6 sounds complete nonsense and what we’re getting is much better than the actual original plans

Grand Theft Auto 6 is the most highly-anticipated game of all time. We only have to wait one more year for its release date, and there are a lot of exciting rumors from over 700-enterable stores to custom music stations. While these rumors have us eager to board a flight to Vice City, more absurd rumors have recently emerged about original plans for the game. Fortunately or unfortunately, rumors about a scrapped story “too dark” for GTA 6 is complete poppycock as it conflicts with previous reports from more credible sources. Also, plans are always scrapped during the early stages of development, and Grand Theft Auto fans should be pleased that what we’re getting with Jason and Lucia is much better than what was envisioned in pre-development.

Rumor claims Rockstar scrapped story “too dark” for GTA 6

As relayed by Insider Gaming, there are rumors that Rockstar scrapped a story “too dark” for GTA 6. This comes courtesy of an unknown source named Fravilys through a French outlet named The Medium.

Insider Gaming notes straight away that the rumor should be taken with a heavy grain of salt as Fravilys is an “unproven source”. Basically, it’s reported that three story ideas for GTA 6 from Dan Housen were scrapped by Take-Two Interactive before his departure from Rockstar.

The first pitch was a “Detective story, worthy of a thriller, centered around three protagonists.” Apparently, this was “in development until the end of 2016,” but it was vetoed by Take-Two for being “too dark”.

The other alleged story pitch involved two protagonists. One of the protagonists was a policewoman, while the other was a “Drug smuggler’s underling, as crazy as Trevor from GTA V.” This was said to be in development for 18-months before getting scrapped.

Lastly, the third pitch involved the same “Drug smuggler’s underling,” but this time the policewoman was replaced by an “African-American former soldier released from prison and falling into the criminal underworld”. This was supposedly scrapped in March 2019.

Original plans for GTA 6

The above rumors sound fanciful and hard to believe, especially as they conflict with the alleged original plans reported by much more credible sources, Jason Schreier and Stephen Totilo, in 2022, as relayed by Forbes.

According to Totilo for Axios, GTA 6 was originally targeting four protagonists. It’s unknown if the planned four included Jason and Lucia, but it’s presumed with Rockstar cutting the protagonists down to two.

In addition, it was reported that there were intended to be three major cities before getting cut down to just Vice City. Unfortunately, outside of Vice City, the other major cities were not identified by name, but it was reported that we would be able to travel to South America before Rockstar decided to focus on Miami.

The report from Jason Schreier for Bloomberg corroborated leaks about GTA 6 when it was codenamed Project Americas back in 2018. This seemingly conflicts with the three pitches allegedly scrapped by Rockstar as late as March 2019.

What we’re getting with Grand Theft Auto 6 is much better

While some might be disappointed that we’re not getting a “too dark” detective thriller involving three protagonists, and that we’re not getting what was originally leaked as Project Americas, fans should take comfort in knowing that what we’re actually getting with Jason and Lucia is most probably better.

Three playable protagonists after GTA 5 would’ve been overkill, and four could’ve possibly been even worse. While Michael, Trevor, and Franklin are fine, they don’t have as much depth as previous GTA protagonists such as CJ, Niko, and Tommy Vercetti, most likely due to sharing the spotlight. Two playable protagonists is much better, especially with them intertwined in a romantic relationship.

While it would’ve been nice to visit South America in addition to Miami, Rockstar focusing on Vice City and surrounding areas means they can pack it with way more detail, events, and activities that make it truly feel alive. We’ve already seen how lively it looks in just screenshots, and this attention to detail would’ve been near impossible to replicate across three major landscapes. Red Dead Redemption 2’s map is smaller than GTA 5’s, but it feels way more alive due to the limited scope allowing for more details and interactions with NPCs.

GTA 6 is smaller in scope than the original reported plans on paper, but this should make the game better. Focusing on one large open-world instead of three should result in way more details, and focusing on two playable protagonists instead of three or four should result in more defined characters we feel closer to and more attached.

For more GTA 6, we have a guide to all the characters confirmed so far along with all the locations.