The Grand Theft Auto series has been in existence for more than 25 years, with almost every generation taking America’s cities as a stage, from Free City (New York) and St. Antilles (L.A.) to Sin City (Miami) showing an exaggerated and ironic microcosm of American society.
In response to a question about why GTA never leaves the United States, Rockstar Games, co-founder and former chief writer Dan Houser, gave a straight answer on the show in recent days, because the game is “the story of America”.
Dan Hauser recalled on Lex Fridman’s Podcast show that Rockstar had launched an expanded mission, “GTA: London”, in 1999 as an outgoing version of the first-generation perspective. “We made a little thing back then, GTA London. It was cute and fun.”
But since then, GTA has not returned to London or other non-United States areas, and the reason behind it is that the series is fundamentally Americana.
Hauser adds that the GTA has been able to attract players in the long term precisely because it portrays the contradictions and absurdities of American society from an “external perspective” that has become an indispensable core of the series.
Turning to three cities, New York, Los Angeles and Miami, where Hauser said that each of these places had the elements to make GTA “crazy.”
In his view, that tension and conflict formed the basis of the play and enabled Rockstar to create a world view between reality and absurdity.
Twenty-four years after the launch of GTA 6 at home in 2026, based on the prototype of Miami, Florida, which is home-grown, it seems perfectly reasonable for Rockstar to return to Miami, using the premonition film as a street view of neon.
“Miami has everything we need — light and darkness, immigrant culture and vast wealth, dreams and corruption. It is a stage created for irony and chaos.”
In his view, the extreme contrast in Miami reflects the true face of the so-called “American dream” and is a fundamental reason why GTA has been able to develop new and never leave America.
The VV is expected to be listed in PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 26, 2026.