Don’t Care About GTA 6’s Romance System? Don’t Use It, Dev Says

GTA 6's Jason and Lucia can be romantically involved, or they can just be partners in crime. If you're not interested in the game's romance system, don't use it, Rockstar's Rob Nelson said in a new interview.

"I have to say it feels great--if you are into it as a concept. Don’t bother with it if you aren’t. Up to you," Nelson told IGN.

Players who do wish to grow and nurture a romantic relationship between Jason and Lucia can hold hands, visit a zoo together, or enjoy a romantic stroll on the beach, Nelson said. If players don’t want to do those things, they don’t have to, but Nelson said players might miss out on other things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPpqZwUwl0

"I don’t want to say too much more about this because I don’t want to spoil anything. It really adds a compelling element to things, and it’s one of the reasons we wanted to approach this sort of story, because it's completely different for us," Nelson said. "Could we bring some sort of emotional resonance to GTA for people if they wanted to engage with it? Could we also provide mechanisms for people to just opt out of it if they're not into it? If they feel like, ‘I don't want a relationship in this?’ That's what we're going to find out. It's not something that we want to foist upon players."

Nelson said players might grow to "feel protective of [Jason and Lucia] as a unit" as they progress through the game, and the developers at Rockstar didn't originally envision this.

"This is something we did not know when we started, and it really had to be something we felt our way through. But I will say that whether you’re getting in trouble, or you’re running from the cops, or getting in a car, or waiting for the other one--playing as them together feels very cool. It feels like you’re taking care of them, if that’s something you’re into," he said.

Jason and Lucia in GTA 6.

Players will need to manage the relationship by responding to texts and, like in any good relationship, making an effort.

“It’s new for GTA, this idea of your actions having meaning in terms of how you treat your partner or how violent you are,” Nelson said in another interview.

Nelson went on to say GTA 6’s story will take cues from “that Bonnie and Clyde concept.” He added, “We knew it was the only way for us to go with this game.”

Bonnie and Clyde were famous American outlaws from the early 1900s who committed many crimes, including murder. They were lovers, and they were eventually killed by the police in 1934 in Louisiana.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. We learned a lot more about the game today, including how the map is 3X bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2’s and that a playthrough can be 80 hours long. The game also brings back six-star wanted levels, and that you can pet the dog.