The game industry seems increasingly defined by games announced well before their release, resulting in many months of silence on these projects. FromAvowedtoElder Scrolls 6toElden Ring,there’s lots of highly anticipated gamesthat won’t be out for a long time. In a way, it’s a good thing thatGrand Theft Auto 6hasn’t been announced yet, since fans don’t have to agonize over one trailer for over a year. Even so, the rumor mill still spins for Rockstar Games' crown jewel. One rumor that’s resurging in recent history is that the next entry inGrand Theft Autowill have a female protagonist.
Grand Theft Autohas never had a woman at the lead before, soGrand Theft Auto 6would be breaking the mold of the franchise. If these rumors are true, there will be a lot of fans and critics watching Rockstar’s work closely. AlthoughGrand Theft Auto 5was extremely well received on the whole, a lot of criticism was levied at the game’s representation of women. After that game, many people will want to see how Rockstar does things differently in the next game. Although the tone ofGrand Theft Auto 6could be very different from its predecessor, it remains to be seen what Rockstar’s vision is for this entry in the franchise.
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Rockstar’s Controversy
The consensus from many critics reviewingGrand Theft Auto 5is that the game’s female characters weren’t written with any depth. Although the game had three playable characters, all three were men. The game was generally short on significant female characters, and any that did appear were criticized as excessively stereotypical. Some argued that Rockstar Games intended this characterization as a form of satire, but many players and critics didn’t find any value in the satire.GTA 5’s controversial treatment of womenremains an unsightly blot on the game’s generally gleaming reputation.
Rockstar has something to prove inGTA 6now. If it can write a strong, empathetic female protagonist inGTA 6,it’ll go a long way to making up for the mistakes the studio made last time. Seven years have gone by sinceGTA 5came out, so Rockstar has had plenty of time to think about how it will do things differently next time. If Rockstar’s intentions when writing women were satire, it clearly didn’t work out. If the writing was simply poorly thought through, then Rockstar has had the time and perspective to understandhowGTA 6should treat women.
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A Well-Rounded World
GTA 6can’t be satisfied by just introducing a female protagonist, though. It’s only a start to have one notable in the game. This speculated protagonist needs a number of other significant and well-written women to interact with throughout the campaign. If Rockstar is interested inescapingGTA 5’s controversial reputation, it needs to prove it had changed its approach systematically and not just for the protagonist. It’ll also need to think about the way everyday NPCs are written inGrand Theft Auto.Rockstar would be better off avoiding any use of stereotypes and finding different forms of satire to work with.
As ever, it’s hard to say if the rumors of the female protagonist are actually true. More than one leaker has backed this claim up recently, though, so it could be more likely than most rumors.Grand Theft Auto 6may not have been revealedyet, but if it isn’t happening, Rockstar has had many years to shoot it down. Odds are good thatGTA 6is getting closer by the day, considering things likeGTA 5’s next-gen port. It seems like an attempt to sate fans while Rockstar works away on the new game. It’s been a long time since Rockstar came back to its sprawling and highly influential action-adventure franchise. A female protagonist seems like a good way to freshen the series up as it comes back from its hiatus – and it’ll help Rockstar atone forGTA 5’s flaws as well.
Grand Theft Auto 6is rumored to be in development.
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