The original plan was to build GTA 6 alongside Red Dead Redemption 2, but as the western grew in ambition, Project Americas was pushed back several years. By 2019 Rockstar had the skeleton of the game and its dual-protagonist hook of Jason and Lucia, though finer details took longer, not least when Covid-19 forced staff to work from home. "Trying to keep a team together through that is really challenging," Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson said.

The interview also revisited the crunch that marred Red Dead Redemption 2's development. Rockstar's head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe called it "a real moment for Rockstar to look at itself", adding: "It's not been perfect, but it's certainly better than Red Dead 2 was." Bloomberg reportedly spoke to dozens of employees who mostly expressed positive sentiment about the changes, though Rockstar remains in an employment tribunal in Scotland over the firing of 34 staff, which the company called gross misconduct and the employees called union-busting.

Development was also dented by the 2022 phishing attack that reached Rockstar's Slack and leaked unfinished footage. Aaron Garbut described the leak as "really weirdly invasive". As deadlines slipped, Kolbe recalled phoning Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick to say the May 2026 date could not be met either: "I think he said, 'You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding.'" Rockstar did not comment on the ongoing leaks of GTA 6 footage by the group or persons known as Cyberleek.