GTA 6 Project Americas Plan Was Larger, Bloomberg Reports

GTA 6 reportedly began as Project Americas, a much broader concept spanning parts of North and South America. Bloomberg interview reporting cited by Eurogamer says Rockstar later narrowed the project toward Miami and nearby areas, giving players useful context for the game’s long production.

Eurogamer’s report on the Bloomberg interview connects that early plan with the game’s changing scope, work on Red Dead Redemption 2, the COVID-19 pandemic, a major leak, and repeated delays.

What Project Americas was supposed to be

According to Eurogamer’s account, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson took a group of employees to Miami in 2015 for an early research trip. The project carried the working name Project Americas at that point, and the reported ambition reached well beyond a single city or nearby region.

The same report says Rockstar wanted the game to cover large areas across both the northern and southern parts of the Americas. That description matters because it shows the scale of the original idea, while saying little about the content that eventually survived development.

That wider plan was later reduced. Eurogamer reported that the scope moved toward Miami and its surrounding areas, while GamesRadar+ also described the earlier North-and-South-America concept as something that was eventually scaled back.

Insider Gaming reported that Leonida remains Rockstar’s biggest map to date despite that reduction in scope. The supplied reporting therefore describes a large final setting, but it does not turn every part of the discarded concept into a current map feature.

For a separate look at the geography attached to current GTA 6 coverage, see Vice Hub’s GTA 6 map guide.

Why development stretched across so many years

GamesRadar+ reported that Rockstar planned to develop GTA 6 at the same time as Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar North was intended to work on GTA 6 while Rockstar San Diego handled the western game, but the plan changed as Red Dead Redemption 2 grew and demanded more support from the company.

That shift pushed GTA 6 back by several years, according to the report. The delay was part of a broader production story in which the project’s scope and priorities changed before Rockstar settled on the direction described in the interview coverage.

Eurogamer also reported that work on GTA 6’s finer systems and mechanical details took longer as the COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home. Rob Nelson described keeping the team together during that period as difficult in the Bloomberg interview, according to Eurogamer.

The production then suffered a serious security incident. Eurogamer reported that a phishing attack reached Rockstar’s Slack in 2022 and exposed unfinished GTA 6 footage. The report says Aaron Garbut described the leak as emotionally invasive because it showed work that was never meant for public viewing.

The release schedule changed more than once

GTA 6’s first trailer pointed to a 2025 release window, Eurogamer reported. Rockstar later moved the target to May 2026 for additional development time, then decided it could not meet that date either.

Eurogamer now reports a November 19 release for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Vice Hub’s GTA 6 release date report covers that reported schedule. The supplied reporting does not establish a PC date, so separate PC timing claims should be kept outside this update.

The interview coverage also addressed Rockstar’s working practices. Eurogamer reported that Jennifer Kolbe said the company changed how it worked after the crunch associated with Red Dead Redemption 2. That remains Rockstar’s account of its internal changes, rather than independent verification of conditions on every team.

What the old codename does not prove

Project Americas does not confirm that GTA 6 will include South American cities, additional countries, cut missions, or future downloadable content. The reported change in scope points toward Miami and surrounding areas, but it does not provide a catalog of everything removed from the early design.

That distinction matters for map speculation. An early development plan can explain why a project took shape over time without serving as evidence that abandoned locations will return in the finished game. The available reporting describes the history of the concept, not a promise of post-launch additions.

For now, the clearest reported picture is a project that started with a much wider American setting and was later narrowed while Rockstar continued building a large Leonida map. The next useful updates will need to come from Rockstar’s official announcements or more on-record development details.