Grand Theft Auto 5 actor Jay Klaitz has shared that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the satire in Grand Theft Auto 6 doesn’t hit as hard because of “what we see happening in the real world.”
The performer behind heist mastermind Lester Crest gave his thoughts on the next Rockstar Games title in an interview with Eldorado. When asked about how GTA can approach humor given the state of the world, Klaitz said he could see its impact not hitting quite the same as many may expect.
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s still f**king GTA,” he clarified. “It’s going to be massive. People will lose their shit. It’s going to be huge, obviously. But it’s a different world to the one 13 years ago when the last one came out. I mean, it’s a very different world than it was even a year ago.”
The tone Rockstar crafted through each GTA game helped transform it into the juggernaut it is today. In IGN’s own 10/10 review of GTA 5, we called attention to how it “drips satire” by ripping into “the Millennial generation, celebrities, the far right, the far left, the middle class, the media,” and everything in between.
That, however, was in 2013, and as long as everything goes according to plan, GTA 6 is set to launch November 16, 2026. Klaitz refrained from speaking too directly about what has changed in the more than a decade since the launch of the last mainline game, and admitted that there is still plenty to dig into.
“What seemed so far-fetched and insane just a short while ago now feels like just another day, so maybe GTA 6 can’t make that same splash as previous games. That said, I don’t know. Maybe that’s bulls**t. I know there will be plenty of commentary and satire woven into it. There’s a lot of the Florida Man stuff and lots of territory like that still to cover.
“The political spotlight often veers over toward Florida, and maybe for that reason, it’ll still sink its hooks into people, but what we see happening in the real world is definitely going to make it harder for a GTA game to work those angles.”
While some hope to see Rockstar stick the landing with GTA 6, others are a bit more concerned with a third-party data breach that took place last week. Despite ransom demands, the company has assured players that the “incident has no impact on our organization or our players.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
