It's been claimed that GTA 6 may indeed feature an updated version of Rockstar's proprietary Rage Engine, but not a total rebuild – and, oh, that rumor about the game's save function being broken is total rubbish.
Perhaps it's because it's the most highly anticipated game on the horizon right now, maybe it's because there's been such a massive wait for it, or, possibly, Rockstar's relative silence is just sending fans feral, but rumors and speculation around GTA 6 are rampant. One such rumor that surfaced recently via gossip newsletter Popbitch is that there've been whispers from a pub in Dundee, Scotland, that the save and load function is broken, with early versions of the game not even built with the option in mind, and the seemingly singular person in charge of it having been laid off by Rockstar last year.
There are many reasons to doubt this, and if we're to put our thinking caps on for a second and really consider if Rockstar – a developer renowned for the quality and attention to detail in its games – would ever let a title get so far through development without a functioning save and load function, I think we've already found the truth without requiring any insider information. But in case there was any doubt, Kotaku's Zack Zwiezen also reports that – per his understanding – this incredibly basic feature is, indeed, intact and working. I'm shocked.
More interesting, though, is the extra context Kotaku has dug up around a potential rework of Rockstar's proprietary Rage Engine for GTA 6. Speaking in a recent interview with Kiwi Talkz, former Rockstar audio designer Rob Carr, who worked on GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 amongst other games, suggested that given how long GTA 6 is taking, the devs have "probably rebuilt the entirety of the Rage Engine." In fact, he added, "I'll be amazed if they didn't because the architecture of technology has advanced significantly since GTA 5," but having left the studio in early 2016, this was his own personal theory rather than concrete knowledge of the current situation.
Well, according to Kotaku, an anonymous source with knowledge of Rockstar (it's not clear if this is someone who works at the studio, or a metaphorical guy who knows a guy) suggests it might not be totally accurate to say the engine has been completely rebuilt. Rather, they explain that GTA 6's engine expands on what the studio did for Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5, with the company apparently enjoying mixing its technology. So, if these claims are anything to go by, it sounds like we can certainly expect improvements, but seemingly not a complete overhaul to Rage.
In the same aforementioned interview with Carr, the ex-Rockstar dev noted that GTA 5 features a number of ideas that are reminiscent of past Rockstar titles, including Red Dead's Dead Eye targeting system, which Michael essentially borrows for his special ability. With that in mind, he speculated that GTA 6 will likely pull from Red Dead Redemption 2 in a similar way. Now then, according to Kotaku's report, it sounds like this might expand beyond in-game features and to the engine itself.
There's absolutely zero doubt that we're going to be seeing a lot more of this kind of speculation as we get closer and closer to that November 19 release date, especially as Rockstar remains quiet on the marketing front. It's already been officially confirmed that launch marketing for GTA 6 won't start until summer, but some fans are so desperate for information that they're doubting if this is actually true and if we might see Trailer 3 much sooner. So, uh, it's safe to say things are super normal out here.
